THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


SAMUEL  ADAMS.  In  the  Series  of  American  States- 
men. i6mo,  gilt  top,  $1.25  ;  half  morocco $2.50 

YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  With  a  portrait  of  Vane 
engraved  on  Wood,  Plans  of  the  Battles  of  Marston 
Moor  and  Naseby,  a  fac-simile  of  a  letter  by  Vane, 
and  a  copy  of  the  Great  Seal  of  the  Commonwealth 
under  Cromwell,  i  vol.  8vo 4.00 

HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN   &   CO. 

Publishers, 
BOSTON  AND  NEW  YORK. 


After  Hmtbraken's  engraving  of  ihe  portrait  by  Sir  Peter  Lely. 


THE  LIFE  OF  YOUNG 

SIR    HENRY  VANE 

GOVERNOR    OF    MASSACHUSETTS    BAY,    AND 
LEADER  OF  THE  LONG  PARLIAMENT 


WITH   A  CONSIDERATION   OF  THE   ENGLISH 

COMMONWEALTH  AS  A  FORECAST 

OF  AMERICA 


BY 


JAMES    K.  HOSMER 

PROFESSOR   IN   WASHINGTON   UNIVERSITY,    ST.    LOUIS,   MO. 
AUTHOR  OF  A  "  LIFE  OF  SAMUEL  ADAMS,"  ETC. 


"  As  you  advance  in  the  second  century  of  your  national  life,  may  we  not  ask 
that  our  two  nations  may  become  one  people?  )r  —  JOHN  BRIGHT  to  the  Com- 
mittee for  the  Centennial  Celebration  of  the  American  Constitution. 

"The  name  of  young  Sir  Henry  Vane  is  the  most  appropriate  link  to  bind 
us  to  the  land  of  our  fathers. "  —  UPHAM  :  Life  of  Vane, 


BOSTON  AND  NEW   YORK 
HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  AND   COMPANY 
Wot  fitoewi&e 


Copyright,  1888, 
Bv  JAMES  K.  HOSMER. 

All  rights  reserved. 


iverside  Press,  Cambridge,  Mass.,  U.  S.  A. 
Electrotyped  and  Printed  by  H.  O.  Houghton  &  Company. 


College 
Library 

DA 
407 


To 
E.  H.  A. 

Non  tarn  utilitas  parta  per  amicum  quam  amici  amor  ipse 
delectat :  tumque  illud  fit,  quod  ab  amico  est  profectum,  jucun- 
dum,  si  cum  studio  est  profectum.  Non  utilitatem  amicitia,  sed 
utilitas  amicitiam  consecuta  est.  Solem  e  mundo  tollere  videntur 
qui  amicitiam  e  vita  tollunt ;  qua  a  Diis  immortalibus  nihil  melius 
habemus,  nihil  jucundius. 

CICERO  :  De  A  micitia,  13,  14. 


1005646 


"  Vane,  young  in  years  but  in  sage  counsel  old, 
Than  whom  a  better  Senator  ne'er  held 
The  helm  of  Rome,  when  gowns  not  arms  repell'd 

The  fierce  Epirot  and  the  African  bold,  — 

Whether  to  settle  peace,  or  to  unfold 

The  drift  of  hollow  states  hard  to  be  spell'd,  — 
Then  to  advise  how  war  may,  best  upheld, 

Move  by  her  two  main  nerves,  iron  and  gold, 

In  all  her  equipage  !  —  besides  to  know 

Both  spiritual  pow'r  and  civil,  what  each  means, 

What  severs  each,  thou  hast  learn'd,  which  few  have  done. 

The  bounds  of  either  sword  to  thee  we  owe : 
Therefore  on  thy  firm  hand  Religion  leans 
In  peace,  and  reckons  thee  her  eldest  son." 

MILTON,  1652. 


PREFACE. 


IT  fell  to  the  present  writer,  a  few  years  since,  to 
prepare  a  life  of  Samuel  Adams  (American  States- 
men series,  Houghton,  Mifflin  and  Company),  who, 
according  to  his  kinsman  John  Adams,  was  "  the 
wedge  that  split  apart"  America  from  the  land  of 
our  fathers.  It  falls  to  the  writer  now  to  prepare  a 
life  of  young  Sir  Henry  Vane,  of  whom  it  has  been 
said  that  "  his  name  is  the  most  appropriate  link  to 
bind  us  to  the  land  of  our  fathers."  To  treat  each  of 
these  great  historic  figures  has  been  for  the  writer  a 
grateful  task.  There  are  few  in  America,  perhaps  at 
the  present  time  there  are  few  in  England,  who  think 
it  not  well  that  England  and  America  were  severed. 
As  to  the  usefulness  of  the  work  in  which  Samuel 
Adams  was  a  main  agent,  doubt  is  not  often  enter- 
tained. But  how  as  to  the  coming  together  again 
of  the  English-speaking  race  into  some  kind  of  a 
bond,  moral  if  not  political  ?  Are  there  many  who 
think  it  either  feasible  or  desirable  ? 

The  aspiration  after  such  a  coming  together  is 


Vlll  PREFACE. 

probably  by  no  means  widespread,  but  it  has  been 
uttered,  and  by  voices  of  power.  John  Bright  wrote 
in  1887  to  the  Committee  for  the  Celebration  of  the 
Centennial  of  the  American  Constitution :  "  As  you 
advance  in  the  second  century  of  your  national  life, 
may  we  not  ask  that  our  two  nations  may  become 
one  people  ?  "  Sir  Henry  Parkes,-.one  of  the  fore- 
most statesmen  of  Australia,  addressing  the  legisla- 
ture of  New  South  Wales,  November  25,  1887,  said 
still  more  definitely :  "  I  firmly  believe  it  is  within  the 
range  of  human  probability  that  the  great  groups  of 
free  communities  connected  with  England,  will,  in 
separate  federations,  be  united  to  the  mother-country ; 
.  .  .  and  I  also  believe  that  in  all  reasonable  proba- 
bility, by  some  less  distinct  bond,  even  the  United 
States  of  America  will  be  connected  with  this  great 
English-speaking  congeries  of  free  governments.  I 
believe  the  circumstances  of  the  world  will  develop 
some  such  new  complex  nationality  as  this,  in  which 
each  of  the  parts  will  be  free  and  independent  while 
united  in  one  grand  whole,  which  will  civilize  the 
globe."  Mr.  Goldwin  Smith  (Macmillan's  Magazine, 
August,  1888),  though  believing  a  political  union  in 
the  highest  degree  unlikely,  says :  "  I  prize  and  cher- 
ish as  of  inestimable  value  to  us,  all  the  moral  union 
of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race.  I  do  not  see  why  there 
should  not,  in  the  course  of  time,  be  an  Anglo-Saxon 
franchise,  including  the  United  States." 


PREFACE.  IX 

The  idea  of  such  an  English-speaking  brotherhood 
has  seldom  found  expression  among  Americans.  To 
the  present  writer,  for  reasons  which  are  briefly  set 
forth  in  the  concluding  chapter  of  this  book,  it  ap- 
pears a  consummation  devoutly  to  be  wished.  In  his 
view  the  supreme  interest  which  attaches  to  the  figure 
of  Vane,  is  not  the  fact  that  excepting  Cromwell  he 
was  the  foremost  man  of  the  English  Commonwealth, 
a  character  whose  career  is  full  of  dramatic  situations, 
of  manifestations  of  great  ability,  of  heroism  carried 
to  the  highest,  but  that  he  more  than  any  figure  that 
can  be  named,  stands  as  a  reconciler  between  kins- 
men who  have  been  long  estranged.  He  had  a  career 
both  in  America  and  England.  Although  living  for 
the  most  part  in  England,  and  at  so  early  a  period,  he 
was  regarded  in  a  curious  way  by  his  contemporaries, 
as  a  product  of  American  influences.  While  labor- 
ing to  restore  the  ancient  English  freedom,  which  he 
believed  had  been  superseded  by  abuses  that  must  be 
cast  out,  he  became  in  his  political  ideas  thoroughly 
American,  living  and  dying  in  the  premature  effort 
to  bring  about  in  England  government  of  the  People, 
by  the  People,  and  for  the  People.  The  broad  suf- 
frage which  Vane  favored  is  already  practically  se- 
cured, though  he  would  have  had  a  written  constitu- 
tion, drawn  up  by  the  representatives  of  the  People, 
according  to  the  provisions  of  which  the  work  of  leg- 
islation and  government  should  carefully  proceed. 


X  PREFACE. 

The  abolition  or  transformation  of  the  House  of 
Lords  is  at  hand ;  few  doubt  that  Disestablishment 
is  near,  and  the  abrogation  of  privileges  that  set  some 
classes  above  their  fellows.  England  has  become, 
says  John  Richard  Green,  "a  democratic  republic 
ruled  under  monarchical  forms."  Her  great  depen- 
dencies, Australia,  New  Zealand,  the  Cape,  and  Can- 
ada, already  possess  a  degree  of  popular  freedom 
which  surpasses  our  own.  How  desirable  that  an- 
cient prejudices  should  be  mitigated  by  dwelling 
upon  the  identity  between  these  lands  and  ourselves, 
and  how  can  that  be  done  better  than  by  some  study 
of  one  who  at  the  same  time  was  so  thorough  an 
American  and  so  thorough  an  Englishman  ! 

Young  Sir  Henry  Vane  has  been  the  subject  of 
three  elaborate  biographies.  That  of  his  contempo- 
rary and  religious  disciple  Sikes  (The  Life  and  Death 
of  Sir  Henry  Vane,  Kt,  by  George  Sikes,  B.  D., 
Fellow  of  Magdalen  College,  Oxford,  London,  1662) 
illustrates  curiously  the  fanaticism  of  that  time,  in 
which  Vane  himself  largely  partook,  but  contains  sur- 
prisingly little  of  coherent  and  intelligible  informa- 
tion. More  than  fifty  years  since  Mr.  Charles  Went- 
worth  Upham  prepared  a  life  of  Vane  (Sparks  Amer- 
ican Biography,  ist  series,  vol.  iv.),  and  a  year  or  two 
later  Mr.  John  Forster  included  a  life  of  Vane  in  his 
"  Statesmen  of  the  Commonwealth."  Both  works 
possess  great  merits.  Upham  recognizes  Vane's  value 


PREFACE.  XI 

"as  a  link  binding  America  to  the  land  of  our 
fathers,"  while  the  book  of  Forster  is  marked  with 
the  qualities  which  have  given  him  so  high  a  place  as 
a  writer  of  biography.  Both  works,  however,  lack 
discrimination,  speaking  as  they  do  of  Vane  in  terms 
of  unbroken  eulogy,  without  mention  of  intellectual 
or  moral  limitations.  While  Vane  was  in  some 
directions  one  of  the  clearest-headed  of  men,  and 
possessed  in  practical  life  a  marvellous  power,  he  was 
in  other  directions  so  wild  a  dreamer  that  his  influ- 
ence in  his  own  time  was  impaired,  and  his  vagaries 
at  present  are  scarcely  intelligible.  While  possessed 
of  the  noblest  aims,  which  he  followed  out  with  an  eye 
single  to  the  public  good,  until  he  perished  heroically 
upon  the  scaffold,  the  wiliest  arts  of  the  politician 
have  seldom  had  clearer  illustration  than  in  his  career. 
Says  the  latest  biographer  of  Cromwell  (Cromwell, 
by  Frederic  Harrison,  Macmillan,  1888,  pp.  117,  118) 
though  he  has  the  highest  opinion  of  his  hero: 
"  Cromwell  was  accustomed  both  earlier  and  later  to 
deal  with  astute  men,  and  to  meet  them  on  equal 
terms  in  tortuous  and  secret  paths.  He  was  himself 
far  from  being  an  Israelite  without  guile.  He  had 
probably  persuaded  himself  that  in  diplomacy,  as  in 
war,  stratagems  with  an  opponent  are  lawful  parts  of 
the  game."  Vane,  too,  had  persuaded  himself  that 
stratagems  with  an  opponent  are  lawful  parts  of  the 
game ;  nor  as  regards  friends  was  he  at  all  scrupu- 


Xll  PREFACE. 

lous  about  using  indirect  and  devious  management  to 
sway  them  to  his  ideas.  Great  was  his  skill  both  in 
outwitting  the  cunning  brains  against  which  it  was 
his  fortune  to  be  pitted,  and  in  creeping  to  his  own 
ends  through  concealed  and  winding  ways. 

Moreover  as  regards  the  mighty  figure  of  Crom- 
well, which  in  any  life  of  Vane  must  be  scarcely  less 
prominent  than  Vane  himself,  a  tone  of  detraction  is 
employed  by  both  Upham  and  Forster,  not  congenial 
to  an  age  which,  through  Carlyle,  has  been  able  to 
enter  into  Cromwell's  heart.  Mr.  Upham  prepared 
his  work,  having  access  only  to  such  sources  of  in- 
formation as  were  open  in  America  at  a  time  when 
the  best  libraries  were  most  imperfect.  With  re- 
spect to  Forster's  book,  also,  while  his  knowledge  of 
the  sources  of  information  open  in  his  day  was  ex- 
haustive, the  changes  at  the  Public  Record  Office 
in  London,  and  the  British  Museum,  during  the  last 
half  century,  have  made  much  accessible  which  in  his 
time  had  not  come  to  light. 

In  view  of  these  considerations  a  new  life  of  Vane 
cannot  be  regarded  as  out  of  place.  The  plan  of  the 
present  writer  was,  first,  to  familiarize  himself  with 
such  knowledge  bearing  upon  his  subject  as  was  to 
be  obtained  in  America.  In  the  Mercantile  Library 
and  Public  Library  of  St.  Louis  were  found  such 
original  sources  as  the  great  folios  of  Rushworth, 
Nalson,  and  Thurloe,  Somers's  "  Tracts,"  Maseres' 


PREFACE.  Xlll 

"  Tracts,"  the  "  Harleian  Miscellany,"  the  Camden 
Society  publications,  and  other  repositories  of  the 
documents  of  the  period  of  the  English  Civil  War. 
Here  also  were  Whitlocke's  "  Memorials,"  Burton's 
"  Diary,"  Sprigge's  "  Anglia  Rediviva,"  May's  "  His- 
tory of  the  Long  Parliament,"  the  "  Athenae  Oxoni- 
enses  "  of  Antony  a  Wood,  the  "  Memoirs "  of  Sir 
Philip  Warwick  and  of  Colonel  Hutchinson,  Win- 
throp's  "  Journal,"  and  the  Histories  of  Clarendon  and 
Bishop  Burnet.  These  books,  through  the  kindness 
of  the  librarians,  Mr.  John  N.  Dyer  and  Mr.  F.  M. 
Crunden,  the  writer  has  been  permitted  to  have  at 
hand  and  to  use  as  his  own.  He  is  also  under  obli- 
gation to  his  associates,  Dr.  W.  G.  Hammond,  Dean 
of  the  Law  School  of  Washington  University,  and  to 
Professor  M.  S.  Snow,  its  acting  Chancellor,  for  kind 
advice  and  the  free  use  of  their  valuable  private  col- 
lections, in  which  he  found  such  works  as  the  "  Par- 
liamentary History,"  the  "  State  Trials,"  volumes  of 
popular  ballads,  and  a  variety  of  legal  and  constitu- 
tional works  bearing  upon  the  matter  in  hand.  In 
Boston  he  received  equal  courtesy,  which  he  grate- 
fully acknowledges.  At  the  Public  Library  was  found 
a  copy  of  the  "Journals  of  the  Commons";  at  the 
State  House,  "  The  Retired  Man's  Meditations,"  a 
scarce  theological  book  of  Vane ;  at  the  Athenaeum 
and  the  rooms  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  So- 
ciety, Ludlow's  "  Memoirs,"  and  many  rare  works 


XIV  PREFACE. 

relating  especially  to  Vane's  New  England  career; 
while  from  the  Harvard  Library  was  obtained  Vane's 
life  by  Sikes,  bound  up  with  which  are  many  of  his 
religious  writings. 

As  to  authorities  of  a  later  date,  the  writer  has 
sought  to  make  himself  familiar  with  all  important 
books  bearing  upon  his  subject.  The  number  of 
such  works  is  quite  too  large  for  specification  here, 
and  the  reader  is  referred  to  the  foot-notes,  which, 
it  is  hoped,  give  some  evidence  of  an  effort  to  be 
thorough.  Carlyle's  "  Cromwell,"  though  absurdly 
depreciatory  of  Vane,  and  often  wrath-provoking  on 
account  of  the  stream  of  coarse  and  bitter  contempt 
poured  out  so  generally  upon  other  writers  who  have 
touched  upon  his  topics,  is  yet  of  inestimable  value  to 
any  student  of  the  period,  as  well  for  the  letters  and 
speeches  of  the  hero,  as  for  the  light  flashed  upon 
events  from  the  torch  of  a  great  genius.  Two  other 
great  works  of  our  own  day  may  be  mentioned  as 
having  especial  worth,  —  the  "  History  of  England 
under  the  Stuarts,"  by  Samuel  Rawson  Gardiner, 
and  the  "  Life  of  Milton  with  a  History  of  his  Time," 
by  Professor  David  Masson.  For  this  period  Mr. 
Gardiner  is  beyond  all  question  the  first  living  au- 
thority. His  ten  ample  volumes  relating  to  the  years 
from  1603  to  1642  contain  a  vast  mass  of  facts,  treated 
with  painstaking  and  judicious  care.  To  the  ten 
volumes  an  eleventh  has  been  added,  carrying  the 


PREFACE.  XV 

record  to  1 644,  the  year  of  Marston  Moor.  The  pres- 
ent writer  regards  it  as  a  calamity  for  him  that  the 
work  has  as  yet  gone  no  farther.  No  other  writer 
upon  that  period  has  made  researches  so  extensive, 
while  it  is  impossible  not  to  be  impressed  with  the 
coolness  and  candor  with  which  Mr.  Gardiner,  "  mor- 
bidly impartial "  as  he  has  been  called  by  a  witty 
critic,  moves  in  the  midst  of  the  strifes  of  parties  and 
men.  It  will  be  noted  that  this  work  has  been  much 
relied  upon  in  the  earlier  portion  of  the  following 
narrative.  Particularly  in  the  chapter  relating  to 
Strafford's  trial,  the  literature  respecting  which  is  im- 
mense in  volume,  and  in  the  discussion  of  which  for 
nearly  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  the  most  violent 
passions  have  been  rife  and  the  most  various  views 
expressed,  the  writer  has  been  glad  to  avail  himself 
of  Gardiner's  clear  and  calm  resume. 

The  work  of  Professor  Masson,  though  less  de- 
tailed than  that  of  Gardiner,  is  based  upon  study 
hardly  less  exhaustive.  It  possesses,  moreover,  a 
certain  picturesque  quality  which  greatly  relieves  the 
perusal  of  the  six  large  octavos.  The  writer  is  under 
an  especial  obligation  to  Masson  in  this  way :  while 
observing  the  interesting  light  which  is  thrown  upon 
Milton's  life  from  the  manuscript  records  of  the 
Council  of  State,  of  which  he  was  the  Secretary  for 
Foreign  Tongues,  the  writer  was  led  to  believe  that 
something  equally  interesting  could  be  discovered 


XVI  PREFACE. 

about  Vane,  who  at  the  same  time  was  its  most  en- 
ergetic member.  Resolved  to  make  the  search,  and 
to  see  what  could  be  found  in  the  British  Museum 
and  elsewhere,  the  writer  went  to  England.  He  ac- 
knowledges gratefully  the  courtesy  of  Dr.  Richard 
Garnett  and  the  librarians  generally  of  the  British 
Museum,  and  of  Mr.  Walford  D.  Selby  and  his 
assistants  in  the  Search-Room  of  the  Public  Record 
Office  in  Fetter  Lane.  By  great  good -fortune  he 
met  in  the  Search-Room  Mr.  S.  R.  Gardiner,  an  in- 
terview fruitful  in  valuable  results.  Learning  the 
writer's  errand,  Mr.  Gardiner  offered  his  help,  and 
the  subsequent  investigation  was  largely  under  his 
guidance.  The  writer  studied  the  manuscript  diaries 
of  D'Ewes,  Yonge,  and  Whitacre,  members  of  the 
Long  Parliament,  sources  of  information  of  great 
value.  He  examined  the  Calendars  of  State  Papers, 
the  unprinted  records  of  the  executive  committees  of 
the  Long  Parliament,  and  many  other  manuscripts. 
His  attention  was  also  directed  to  the  vast  collection 
known  as  the  "  Thomasson  Tracts,"  made  by  a  London 
bookseller  of  the  seventeenth  century,  and  containing 
the  fugitive  literature  of  the  period.  Every  sermon, 
ballad,  play,  news-sheet,  broadside,  pamphlet,  Roy- 
alist or  Roundhead  squib,  almost  every  handbill  and 
placard,  seems  to  have  been  bought  by  this  indefati- 
gable gatherer,  and  laid  aside.  The  huge  mass, 
bound  up  in  series,  amounts  to  some  thousands  of 


PREFA  CE.  XV11 

volumes,  and  reflects  curiously  the  face  of  that  distant 
time.  The  volumes  are  brought,  a  shelf-full  at  a  time, 
to  the  student,  who  with  index  in  hand  winnows  as 
he  can  after  wheat  for  his  own  bin. 

From  the  statement  that  has  been  made  it  will 
appear  that  the  writer  has  taken  some  pains  in  the 
collection  of  his  materials.  He  believes,  in  fact,  that 
there  is  little  of  importance  relating  to  the  subject 
which  has  not  passed  through  his  hands.  What  suc- 
cess he  has  had  in  digesting  his  results,  and  in  hitting 
the  truth  among  the  reports  of  friends  too  partial,  and 
enemies  too  violent,  his  readers  must  judge.  His 
point  of  view  is  that  of  an  American,  who  believes 
with  Abraham  Lincoln  that  in  any  Anglo-Saxon 
community  "  the  plain  People "  can  and  should  be 
trusted  to  govern  themselves.  He  trusts,  however, 
that  his  readers  will  find  him  fair  to  the  upholders 
of  different  views,  and  not  blind  to  the  shortcomings 
of  the  men  toward  whom  his  own  sympathies  go 
out. 

In  acknowledging  obligation  to  gentlemen  in  Eng- 
land, Professors  James  Bryce,  E.  A.  Freeman,  and  J. 
R.  Lowell,  and  Mr.  Henry  White  of  the  American 
Legation,  must  not  be  forgotten,  who  furthered  the 
writer's  aims  by  help  and  counsel.  An  especial  debt 
is  due  to  the  Duke  of  Cleveland,  the  descendant  of 
Vane,  who  extended  to  the  writer  a  great  courtesy 
described  in  its  proper  place  in  the  volume. 


Xviii  PREFA  CE. 

Two  portraits  of  Vane  by  contemporary  painters 
are  in  existence,  —  one  by  William  Dobson,  pre- 
served in  the  National  Portrait  Gallery,  now  at  Beth- 
nal  Green;  the  other  probably  by  Sir  Peter  Lely, 
preserved  at  Raby  Castle.  In  the  print  collection  of 
the  British  Museum,  also,  are  contained  proofs  of  two 
fine  engraved  likenesses  of  Vane,  —  one  by  Fai- 
thorne,  a  London  artist  who  must  have  known  him 
well ;  the  other  by  Houbraken,  after  Lely's  portrait. 
The  Faithorne  picture  presents  a  younger,  and  in 
some  ways  perhaps  a  stronger  face  than  the  other. 
The  Houbraken,  however,  gives  a  countenance  of 
which  the  power  is  by  no  means  lost  in  its  high-bred 
delicacy  and  grace.  By  permission  of  the  Museum 
authorities  the  writer  secured  photographs  of  both 
engravings.  The  Houbraken  is  a  good  specimen  of 
the  skill  of  that  great  artist,  and  has  been  reproduced 
for  the  present  volume. 

It  must  be  mentioned  in  conclusion  that  this  life 
of  young  Sir  Henry  Vane  has  been  written  at  the 
instance  of  Mrs.  Mary  Hemenway  of  Boston,  and  is 
to  be  regarded  as  an  outgrowth  of  the  work  under- 
taken by  her  to  promote  love  of  freedom  and  good 
citizenship  known  as  the  "  Old  South  work." 

JAMES   K.   HOSMER. 
ST.  Louis,  September  17,  1888. 


CONTENTS. 


PART   I.     VANE    IN    MASSACHUSETTS. 
1612-1637. 

CHAPTER   I. 

BORN  IN  THE  PURPLE 1-15 

Antiquity  and  prominence  of  the  Vane  family,  Howel  ap 
Vane,  Sir  Henry  Vane  of  Poictiers,  I ;  Sir  Henry  Vane  of 
Wyatt's  rebellion,  Harry  Vane,  Duke  of  Cleveland  in  1832,  2 ; 
Old  Sir  Harry  Vane  of  the  seventeenth  century,  becomes  emi- 
nent under  James  I  and  Charles  I,  favored  by  the  Queen,  3 ; 
ambassador  to  Gustavus  Adolphus,  buys  Raby  Castle,  principal 
Secretary  of  State,  birth  of  young  Sir  Henry  Vane,  at  school  at 
Westminster,  4 ;  at  Oxford,  in  the  English  embassy  at  Vienna, 
5 ;  extracts  from  his  letters  to  his  father,  6,  7 ;  probably  at 
Geneva,  his  appearance  as  a  youth,  8 ;  becomes  a  Puritan,  his 
father's  chagrin,  9  ;  hides  from  the  King  behind  the  arras,  Laud 
tries  to  convert  him,  10 ;  Vane  resolves  to  go  to  New  England, 
ii ;  first  heard  of  by  Strafford,  12;  his  letter  to  his  father  be- 
fore sailing,  12,  13;  his  appearance  as  given  in  his  portraits,  14. 

CHAPTER  II. 

MASSACHUSETTS  BAY  IN  1635 16-31 

The  settlers  cling  to  the  sea,  16;  pleasant  suggestiveness  in 
names  of  ships,  gradual  improvement  in  condition  of  the  colo- 
nists, 17;  polity  of  the  colony,  18;  description  of  early  Boston, 
19  ;  the  colonists,  19,  20  ;  the  New  England  ministers,  21  ;  their 
theology,  controversies,  relaxations,  22 ;  John  Wilson,  Nathaniel 
Ward,  23,  24;  Roger  Williams,  25-28;  John  Cotton,  29-31. 

CHAPTER  III. 

THE  BOY  GOVERNOR 32-60 

Vane's  arrival  in  Boston,  his  presumption,  32 ;  chosen  Gov- 
ernor, member  of  committee  to  establish  "  Fundamentals,"  33, 


XX  CONTENTS. 

34 ;  assumes  much  state,  34 ;  troubles  with  the  shipping,  35-38 ; 
settlement  of  Concord,  38;  of  Connecticut,  39,  40;  John  Gal- 
lop's sea-fight,  41,  42  ;  beginning  of  the  Pequot  war,  43  ;  the 
old  soldiers,  Standish,  Patrick,  Gardiner,  Underbill,  Mason,  43, 
44 ;  the  Pequots  try  to  gain  the  Narragansetts,  44  ;  foiled  by 
Roger  Williams,  45 ;  Vane's  progress  through  the  colony,  visit 
of  Miantonimo  to  Boston,  46;  Mrs.  Anne  Hutchinson,  47,  48; 
outbreak  of  Hutchinsonian  Controversy,  48 ;  the  colonists  take 
sides,  49;  the  diatribe  of  Rev.  Thomas  Weld,  50;  Winthrop's 
account  of  the  dispute,  51 ;  establishment  of  Harvard  College, 
Vane  desires  to  go  home,  52;  rebuked  by  Hugh  Peters,  53,  54; 
confusion  of  mind  of  the  disputants  in  the  Hutchinsonian  con- 
troversy, 54,  55;  danger  of  the  colony,  55,  56;  trifling  nature 
of  the  dispute,  57  ;  Vane's  unpopularity  and  fall,  58  ;  danger  of 
civil  war,  59 ;  Vane's  resentment,  60. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  CONTROVERSY  WITH  WINTHROP 61-82 

Order  of  the  General  Court  for  keeping  out  all  persons  dan- 
gerous to  the  Commonwealth,  Cotton  outraged  by  it,  Winthrop 
defends  it,  61  ;  Winthrop  defines  a  commonweal  or  body  politic, 
Vane's  strictures,  his  deference  to  royalty,  62  ;  Winthrop  main- 
tains the  equity  of  the  order,  Vane  answers,  63  ;  maintains  toler- 
ation, 64-66 ;  Vane  and  Roger  Williams  recognize  one  another 
as  kindred  spirits,  66,  67 ;  progress  of  the  Pequot  war,  67,  68 ; 
Mason's  campaign  against  Sassacus,  69,  70 ;  Vane  departs  for 
England,  70  ;  progress  of  the  Hutchinsonian  Controversy,  71 ; 
terrible  nature  of  the  crisis,  72  ;  Underbill  the  Antinomian,  73, 
74 ;  discord  of  authorities  as  regards  this  period,  74,  75 ;  Wen- 
dell Phillips  on  Vane,  75,  76  ;  S.  R.  Gardiner's  view,  boyishness 
of  Vane,  77 ;  his  splendid  promise,  78  ;  his  magnanimity,  79,  80; 
his  return  to  England,  80 ;  recapitulation  of  his  career  hitherto, 
80-82. 


PART  II.     THE   EVOLUTION  OF  REPUB- 
LICANISM.    1637-1648. 

CHAPTER   V. 

THE  OPENING  OF  THE  LONG  PARLIAMENT 83-107 

Vane  an  American -Englishman,  constitutional  resume",  83; 
ancient  polity  of  the  Teutons,  Saxon  conquest  of  England,  84 ; 


CONTENTS.  Xxi 

Norman  conquest,  Feudalism,  85;  origin  of  Parliament,  destruc- 
tion of  freedom  elsewhere  than  in  England,  86 ;  its  vicissitudes  in 
England,  Simon  de  Montfort,  Edward  I,  Richard  II,  House  of 
Lancaster,  Tudors,  Stuarts,  87  ;  young  Sir  Harry  Vane's  return 
to  England,  and  marriage,  88 ;  English  Commonwealth  as  a  real- 
ization of  American  ideas,  89  ;  character  of  Charles  I,  90, 91  ;  op- 
position to  him  of  constitutional  party,  case  of  Sir  John  Eliot, 
Petition  of  Right,  92 ;  Laud,  Strafford,  Star-Chamber,  and  High 
Commission  Courts,  93 ;  Scottish  Covenant,  rebellion,  summon- 
ing of  the  Short  Parliament,  94 ;  Pym,  Hampden,  94-96 ;  Vane 
elected  for  Kingston-upon-Hull,  96;  made  joint  Treasurer  of  the 
Navy,  the  ancient  Palace  of  Westminster,  97,  98 ;  Pym's  speech 
at  opening  of  the  Short  Parliament,  98,  99 ;  sullenness  of  the 
members,  99;  dissolution  of  the  Short  Parliament,  Vane  a  man 
of  mark,  loo;  knighted  by  the  King,  Strafford's  affront  to  the 
Vanes,  102 ;  alleged  cowardice  of  Vane,  102,  [03  ;  power  of 
Strafford,  104;  the  Long  Parliament  convened,  the  leading 
members  and  their  seats,  105  ;  appearance  of  the  House  of 
Commons,  influence  of  Pym  and  Hampden,  106;  general  discon- 
tent, 107. 

CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  TRIAL  OF  STRAFFORD 108-136 

Career  and  character  of  Strafford,  108-110;  denounced  by 
Pym  and  impeachea,  in  ;  his  arrest,  the  general  terror,  112; 
Strafford's  peace  of  mind,  113 ;  arrest  of  Laud,  Sir  Philip  War- 
wick's account  of  Cromwell,  114,  115;  rise  of  the  Root  and 
Branch  party,  115  ;  the  Separatists,  court  intrigues,  marriage  of 
the  Princess  Mary,  116;  Westminster  Hall,  117;  Strafford 
brought  to  trial,  118;  difficulty  in  making  out  a  case  of  treason, 
violence  of  the  royal  party,  119;  evidence  of  the  Vanes,  120; 
Clarendon's  description,  121-125;  the  motive  of  the  Vanes 
considered,  126;  consideration  of  the  conduct  of  young  Sir 
Harry,  127-130;  Strafford's  honesty,  130;  the  bill  of  attainder, 
131  ;  Strafford's  defence,  132  ;  passage  of  the  bill  of  attainder, 
and  of  the  bill  that  Parliament  shall  not  be  dissolved  without 
its  own  consent,  133;  general  panic,  134;  execution  of  Strafford, 
135  ;  estimate  of  his  influence,  136. 

CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 137-160 

Abolition  of  tonnage  and  poundage,  of  Star- Chamber  and  High 
Commission  Courts,  King's  journey  to  Scotland,  137;  Irish  re- 
bellion, Grand  Remonstrance,  division  of  nation  into  Cavaliers 


XX 11  CONTENTS. 

and  Roundheads,  138 ;  impeachment  of  the  Bishops,  attempt  to 
seize  the  Five  Members,  levying  of  troops,  139;  growing  promi- 
nence of  Vane,  140;  bill  for  abolition  of  Episcopacy  passed, 
Vane's  subtle  management,  his  diligence,  141 ;  Laud  impeached, 
142;  Clarendon's  characterization  of  Vane,  143,  144;  old  Sir 
Harry  leaves  the  King,  testimony  of  Carterett  and  d'Ewes  to  the 
eminence  of  Vane,  145  ;  Vane  and  the  King  at  Theobald's  and 
Newmarket,  146-148  ;  Treasurer  of  the  Navy  under  Parliament, 
his  self-sacrifice,  148 ;  Cavaliers  characterized,  Roundheads, 
149,  150;  outbreak  of  Civil  War,  150;  scenes  of  the  first  cam- 
paign, their  present  aspect,  151;  Edgehill,  152;  the  armies 
ready  for  battle,  153  ;  Sir  E.  Verney,  Sir  Jacob  Astley,  154  ;  por- 
trait of  Prince  Rupert,  his  career  and  character,  154,  155  ;  bat- 
tle of  Edgehill,  156;  London  in  danger,  Vane  opposes  accommo- 
dation without  redress  of  grievances,  spirited  conduct  of  the 
Queen,  157;  Edmund  Waller's  plot,  the  rise  of  Sir  Thomas 
Fairfax,  158  ;  Parliament  side  depressed,  sluggishness  of  Essex, 
Sir  Wm.  Waller  and  Fairfax  defeated,  fall  of  Bristol,  death  of 
Hanapden,  159  ;  Cromwell's  plan  to  improve  affairs,  159,  160. 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE  SOLEMN  LEAGUE  AND  COVENANT 161-188 

Vane  scores  Essex  in  Parliament,  161  ;  Essex  invites  Vane  to 
take  the  field,  162  ;  idea  entertained  of  sending  Vane  to  the  Army 
in  Hampden's  place,  163  ;  reaction  from  America  upon  Eng- 
lish feeling,  163  ;  progress  of  the  Independents,  164  ;  Indepen- 
dency in  America,  united  there  with  intolerance,  165  ;  English 
Independency  derived  from  America,  166;  John  Cotton  its 
father,  167 ;  Owen,  Goodwin,  Cromwell,  Vane,  his  disciples, 
168;  the  home  of  Cotton  and  Vane  in  Boston,  169;  growth  of 
Toleration,  169,  170;  adopted  by  Baptists,  by  Churchmen, 
Roger  Williams  in  England,  170  :  his  Bloudy  Tenent  of  Persecu- 
tion, 171  ;  Vane's  growth  in  Toleration,  172;  Parliament  resolves 
to  appeal  to  the  Scots,  172;  commissioners  appointed,  173;  de- 
pressed condition  of  the  cause  of  the  Houses,  London  train- 
bands at  Gloucester,  174;  Vane  reaches  Edinburgh,  175;  nego- 
tiations, 176  ;  passage  of  the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant, 
177;  Scotch  commissioners  appointed  for  London,  178;  charge 
of  duplicity  against  Vane,  171-181;  the  case  examined,  182-184; 
Vane's  dying  declaration,  185,  186;  the  signing  in  St.  Mar- 
garet's, 187,  1 88. 


CONTENTS.  XX1I1 


CHAPTER   IX. 

THE  COMMITTEE  OF  BOTH  KINGDOMS 189-211 

Withdrawal  of  Pym,  characters  of  Selden,  St.  John,  Henry 
Marten,  189;  wit  of  Marten,  190;  Whitlocke,  Cromwell  and 
Vane  in  the  leadership,  Gloucester  saved,  train-bands  at  New- 
bury,  191  ;  death  and  funeral  of  Pym,  192  ;  the  King  plots  to 
compromise  Vane,  192,  193;  strained  relations  of  the  Houses, 
194;  Violett's  plot,  194,  195;  discovered  by  Vane  and  St.  John, 
195,  196;  Vane's  speech  at  Guildhall,  196,  197;  rejoicings  of 
city  and  Parliament,  198  ;  origin  of  the  Committee  of  Both  King- 
doms in  a  Royalist  intrigue,  opposition  of  Peers  and  the  peace 
party,  199  ;  Committee  of  Safety  of  1642,  200  ;  necessity  of  an 
executive  head,  200;  manoeuvring  of  Vane  and  St.  John,  200, 
201  ;  Committee  of  Two  Kingdoms  established,  its  great  signifi- 
cance, its  constitution,  its  records,  202;  activity  of  Vane  on 
the  Committee,  203  ;  King  plots  with  Irish  Papists,  denies  le- 
gal status  of  Parliament,  successes  of  Parliament  in  the  spring 
of  1644,  204;  successes  of  King  and  Rupert  in  June,  Vane  sent 
to  the  siege  of  York,  205  ;  plan  for  deposition  of  Charles  I,  206 ; 
Vane's  return  and  report  from  York,  207,  208  ;  newspaper  com- 
ments on  his  mission,  209,  210  ;  his  share  in  the  victory  of  Mars- 
ton  Moor,  210. 

CHAPTER  X. 

MARSTON  MOOR 212-226 

Skill  of  Rupert,  inefficiency  of  Leven  before  York,  abandon- 
ment of  the  siege,  212  ;  description  of  York,  of  Marston  Moor, 
of  Long  Marston,  present  appearance  of  the  battlefield,  213 ; 
description  and  position  of  the  Parliament  army,  214  ;  the  Cove- 
nanters, their  harshness,  their  strength,  David  Leslie,  215  ;  posi- 
tion of  Cromwell  on  the  left  wing,  the  resume'  of  his  early  mili- 
tary career,  216;  battle  hymns,  discord  among  the  Cavaliers, 
217;  order  of  the  Cavalier  host,  Rupert  and  the  Roundhead 
prisoner,  Rupert's  dog  "  Boy,"  218;  the  White  Syke  ditch,  be- 
ginning of  the  battle,  219;  overthrow  of  Fairfax,  danger  at  Par- 
liamentary Centre,  bravery  of  Newcastle,  flight  of  Leven,  220; 
demoralization  of  the  Scots,  charge  of  Cromwell  and  the  left 

,  wing,  stubborn  fight  of  Rupert,  221 ;  peril  of  the  Roundheads, 
prowess  of  David  Leslie,  rout  of  the  Cavaliers,  222;  Fairfax  cuts 
his  way  through,  the  Parliament  Centre  succored,  destruction  of 
the  White  Coats,  223  ;  Cromwell  named  "  Ironside  "  by  Rupert, 
224;  down  Moor  lane  to  the  White  Syke,  the  field  full  of  skele- 
tons, 225  ;  the  battlefield  at  peace,  226. 


XXIV  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XI. 

NASEBY 227-253 

Vane  worn  out,  surrender  of  Essex  to  the  King,  successes  of 
Montrose,  227;  depression  of  the  Scots,  advance  of  Indepen- 
dency, 228;  Baillie  on  Vane's  position,  229;  friendship  for  Vane 
of  Roger  Williams  and  Milton,  adherents  to  Independency,  230 ; 
2d  battle  of  Newbury,  Cromwell  denounces  Manchester,  origin 
of  Self-Denying  Ordinance,  231  ;  Zouch  Tate  moves  Self-Deny- 
ing Ordinance,  manoeuvring  of  the  Independents,  Vane's  speech, 
232-234;  Commons  pass  Self-Denying  Ordinance,  opposed  by 
Lords,  Vane's  activity,  234 ;  futile  negotiations  at  Uxbridge,  the 
Independents  push  the  New  Model,  influence  of  Argyle,  235  ; 
Cromwell  denounces  the  Lords,  Vane's  speech  at  Guildhall  in 
behalf  of  the  New  Model,  236,  237 ;  final  shape  of  the  Self-De- 
nying Ordinance,  astuteness  of  Vane  at  time  of  the  New  Model, 
238  ;  Cromwell  excepted  from  Self-Denying  Ordinance,  239; 
constitution  and  officering  of  the  New  Model,  its  discipline,  its 
piety,  240 ;  subject  of  ridicule,  victory  of  Montrose  at  Kilsyth, 
the  King  storms  Leicester,  his  cheerfulness,  241 ;  eve  of  the 
battle  of  Naseby,  present  appearance  of  the  localities,  242,  243: 
advance  of  the  King,  243  ;  order  of  the  Roundheads,  244;  of  the 
Cavaliers,  245  ;  appearance  of  the  two  hosts,  246  ;  Rupert  over- 
throws Ireton,  247  ;  Cromwell  overthrows  Sir  Marmaduke  Lang- 
dale,  248  ;  the  fight  at  the  centre,  249  ;  the  King's  bravery  baf- 
fled, the  Ironside  pursuit,  250;  the  booty,  the  King's  letters,  251 ; 
present  appearance  of  the  battlefield,  252 ;  results  of  the  battle, 

253- 

CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  RISE  OF  THE  INDEPENDENTS 254-282 

Ill-fortune  of  the  King,  his  perfidy  revealed,  destruction  of 
Montrose,  254;  capture  of  Sir  Jacob  Astley,  prosperity  of  the 
Independents,  255  ;  strengthened  by  the  Recruiters,  the  soldiers 
in  Parliament,  the  Presbyterian  leaders,  William  Prynne,  256; 
wildness  of  the  sectaries,  257;  John  Lilburne,  257,  258;  Roger 
Williams  on  the  limits  of  Toleration,  258,  259 ;  American  ideas 
of  the  Ironsides,  260  ;  Baillie's  unhappiness,  261,  262;  Indepen- 
dent manoeuvring,  262.  263 ;  the  King's  two  letters  to  Vane,  263, 
264;  clashing  between  Presbyterians  and  Independents,  the 
King  goes  to  the  Scots,  265 ;  he  is  surrendered  to  Parliament, 
the  three  troopers  at  St.  Stephen's,  266,  267 ;  the  Agitators,  267, 
268 ;  Cornet  Joyce  seizes  the  King,  268 ;  the  Army  demands 
the  exclusion  of  eleven  Presbyterian  leaders,  riots  in  London, 


CONTENTS.  XXV 

269 ;  the  Ironsides  march  through  the  city,  270 ;  the  Heads  of 
Proposals,  270,  271  ;  spurned  by  the  King,  272  ;  meeting  in  the 
Army,  273 ;  Cromwell  and  Ireton  at  the  Blue  Boar  Inn,  273, 
274 ;  the  King  flees  to  Wight,  275 ;  his  intrigues,  league  with 
the  Scots,  276;  the  Agreement  of  the  People,  and  Case  of  the 
Whole  Army,  277;  their  American  ideas,  278-280;  the  leaders 
lag  behind  the  rank  and  file,  281 ;  the  prayer-meeting,  282. 


PART   III.     AMERICAN    ENGLAND. 
1648-1653. 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE  IRONSIDES  TAKE  THINGS  IN  HAND 283-311 

Sir  Thomas  Wroth  moves  to  lay  by  the  King,  283  ;  the  cushion- 
throwing,  284;  the  Derby  House  Committee  reconstituted,  285; 
threatening  front  of  the  King's  friends,  285,  286 ;  temper  of  the 
Independents,  Ironside  prayer-meeting  at  Windsor,  287 ;  Adju- 
tant Allen's  account,  287-292  ;  military  movements  of  Lambert, 
Fairfax,  Ireton,  siege  of  Colchester,  293  ;  Cromwell's  march  to 
Wales,  Hamilton  passes  Carlisle,  294:  Cromwell  marches  against 
the  Scots,  295;  battle  of  Preston,  296;  activity  at  Derby  House, 
297 ;  Vane  broken  down,  298  ;  new  negotiations  with  the  King, 
299 ;  Vane  impressed  by  Charles,  300 ;  Vane's  astuteness,  effi- 
ciency of  Independent  statesmen,  301  ;  popular  petitions  against 
an  agreement  with  the  King,  302;  the  Grand  Army  Remon- 
strance, 302-305;  Prynne's  manly  opposition,  305,  306;  defec- 
tion of  Fiennes,  306,  307  ;  Vane  opposes  treaty  with  the  King, 
307-309;  the  Independents  overborne,  309;  Pride's  Purge,  310. 

CHAPTER   XIV. 

THE  RUMP  AGAINST  THE  WORLD 312-340 

Vane  disapproves  Pride's  Purge  and  the  execution  of  the 
King,  manifestos  of  the  Army  and  the  Rump,  312;  withdrawal 
from  public  life  of  Vane  and  Algernon  Sidney.  313;  death  of 
Charles,  314;  parallel  between  Cromwell  and  Abraham  Lincoln, 
315  ;  expediency  of  the  execution  of  the  King  discussed,  speech 
of  Scott,  315-317;  Vane's  reappearance  in  public  life,  Republi- 
canism supreme,  317;  second  Agreement  of  the  People,  319;  Ire- 
ton's  plan  for  a  Constitution,  320,  321  ;  odds  against  the  Com- 
monwealth, 322 ;  Lilburne  gives  trouble,  322,  323 ;  hostility  of 


XXVI  CONTENTS. 

Ireland  and  Scotland,  323;  Charles  II  proclaimed  at  Edinburgh, 
vigor  of  the  Commonwealth's  men,  324;  Marten's  wit,  policy  of 
the  Honest  Party,  325 ;  inauguration  of  the  Council  of  State, 
eminence  of  Vane,  326;  he  adopts  Republicanism  hesitatingly, 
327 ;  constitution  and  membership  of  the  Council  of  State, 
327-329;  Milton  becomes  its  Secretary  for  Foreign  Tongues, 
329 ;  execution  of  Hamilton  and  Lord  Capel,  330 ;  Lilburne  im- 
prisoned, mutiny  in  the  Army  suppressed,  steps  taken  to  restore 
the  Navy,  331 ;  importance  of  Vane,  committee  to  present  heads 
for  a  new  settlement,  332 ;  Journal  of  the  Commons,  Order- 
Books  of  the  Council  of  State,  333;  their  evidence  as  to  Vane's 
activity,  334-336 ;  Cromwell's  Irish  campaign,  the  Engagement 
of  the  Commonwealth,  337  ;  relations  established  with  foreign 
powers,  Blake  sent  against  Rupert,  338 ;  activity  of  the  Com- 
mittee for  the  new  settlement,  varied  contents  of  the  Order- 
Books  of  the  Council  of  State,  339 ;  Milton  writes  the  Icono- 
clastes  and  Defensio  Populi  A  nglicani,  340. 

CHAPTER  XV. 

DUNBAR   AND   WORCESTER 34I 

Nomination  of  Council  of  State  for  second  year,  Vane  perhaps 
ready  for  the  new  settlement,  341  ;  disaffection  of  the  sailors, 
Bradshaw  and  Vane  state  their  difficulties,  withdrawal  of  Fairfax, 
342 ;  preparations  for  Dunbar  campaign,  activity  of  Navy  com- 
mittee, 343 ;  case  of  the  "  Hart "  frigate,  Popham's  letter  from 
before  Lisbon,  344;  Charles  II  arrives  in  Scotland,  David  Leslie 
leads  the  Scots,  345;  his  skilful  manoeuvring,  346;  Cromwell's 
letter  to  Haselrig,  347 ;  battle  of  Dunbar,  348,  349 ;  Crom- 
well's letter  to  his  wife,  350;  Scots  retire  northward,  illness  of 
Cromwell,  attitude  of  Holland,  351;  embassy  to  Holland,  352; 
sudden  march  of  the  King  into  England,  353  ;  the  Ironsides 
in  pursuit,  financial  management  of  the  Commonwealth,  354; 
Vane's  prominence  here  as  shown  by  the  Order-Books,  355  ; 
also  in  military  affairs,  356  ;  in  management  of  Navy,  of  affairs 
of  Ireland  and  Scotland,  Brother  Fountain  and  Brother  Heron, 
357;  too  high  for  Cromwell  to  fathom,  358;  case  of  Rev. 
Christopher  Love,  359;  battle  of  Worcester,  360;  Vane  in- 
structs the  Committee  for  congratulating  the  Lord  General,  360, 
361  ;  Scotland  and  Ireland  subdued,  treatment  of  the  van- 
quished, incorporation  of  Scotland  with  England,  362 ;  death 
of  Ireton,  his  home,  363 ;  Ludlow's  panegyric,  364 ;  earnest 
desire  of  Cromwell  and  Vane  for  the  new  settlement,  365 ;  third 
Council  of  State,  Scotland  incorporated,  366;  standing  com- 


CONTENTS.  XXV11 

mittees  of  Council  of  State,  366;  the  Rump  overshadowed  by 
Cromwell,  367  ;  obsequiousness  of  foreign  powers,  368 ;  Pride  on 
the  lawyers,  ecclesiastical  settlement,  368 ;  protest  of  Roger 
Williams,  tolerance  of  Vane,  369. 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

BLAKE  AND  VAN  TROMP 370-398 

Holland  outraged  by  the  Act  of  Navigation,  370;  an  embassy 
sent  to  London,  collision  of  the  fleets  off  Dover,  371 ;  evidence 
from  the  Order-Books  of  Vane's  energy,  371  ;  president  of  the 
Council  of  State,  preparations  for  war,  372;  instructions  to 
Blake,  energy  of  the  Navy  committee,  Blake  wounded,  373;  Vane 
at  the  front,  374 ;  testimony  to  his  prominence  of  Sikes,  375, 
376  ;  Milton's  sonnet  to  Vane,  376-378 ;  hostility  to  the  Com- 
monwealth of  foreign  powers,  reason  for  the  enmity  of  Holland, 
379;  might  of  the  Dutch,  380;  character  of  17th-century  sail- 
ors, 380,  381 ;  description  of  the  Narrow  Seas,  382,  383 ;  associa- 
tions connected  with  them,  384 ;  Blake's  career  and  character, 
385,  386 ;  his  fleet,  approach  of  the  Dutch,  387 ;  Van  Tromp, 
388  ;  action  of  Feb.  18,  389,  390;  action  of  Feb.  20,  391 ;  action 
of  Feb.  21,  the  Flying  Dutchman,  392;  further  progress  of  the 
war,  393  ;  death  of  Van  Tromp,  394 ;  Blake's  further  career, 
394,  395;  war  with  Spain,  the  treasure-ships,  395,  396;  battle 
of  Santa  Cruz,  396 ;  death  of  Blake,  397. 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE  DISSOLUTION  OF  THE  RUMP 399-418 

Dissatisfaction  with  the  Rump,  small  attendance  of  members, 
399  ;  the  rise  of  Blake,  welcome  to  Parliament  men,  their  fear  of 
the  influence  of  the  Army  and  Cromwell,  400 ;  difficulties  in  the 
way  of  a  new  settlement,  Cromwell's  plan,  401  ;  plan  of  the 
Rump  leaders,  their  eagerness  for  a  dissolution,  402 ;  particulars 
of  Vane's  Act  of  Dissolution,  403-405;  meeting  of  the  Rump 
and  Army  chiefs  at  Whitehall,  405  ;  the  bill  before  the  House, 
406  ;  the  scene  in  St.  Stephen's,  407 ;  Ludlow's  account,  Crom- 
well's arrival,  408 ;  "  The  Lord  deliver  me  from  Sir  Henry 
Vane,"  409;  the  Rump  expelled,  410;  Algernon  Sidney's 

•  account,  411;  Cromwell  and  Vane  not  as  yet  alienated,  412; 
Cromwell's  motive,  413;  his  failure  afterward,  414;  hopeless- 
ness of  the  Republican  position,  415;  tributes  to  the  greatness 
of  the  Rump,  416;  Scott's  defence  of  their  policy,  417;  the  three 
heroes  of  the  period,  418. 


XXV111  CONTENTS. 


PART    IV.     TO  TOWER-HILL.     1653-1662. 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

THE  HEALING  QUESTION 419-447 

Description  of  Raby  Castle,  419,  420 ;  Vane's  retirement,  421 ; 
his  wife,  children,  brothers,  422  ;  later  career,  death,  and  char- 
acter of  old  Sir  Henry  Vane,  423  ;  Vane's  letter  to  Providence 
for  Roger  Williams,  424,  425 ;  the  reply  of  Providence,  425,  426; 
Vane  glad  to  lay  down  public  life,  426;  proofs  of  continued 
friendship  between  him  and  Cromwell,  his  return  to  public  life 
sought  for,  427;  Henry  Cromwell's  dislike  of  Vane,  428;  his 
religious  vagaries,  Retired  Man's  Meditations,  429,  430 ;  his  be- 
lief in  second  coming  of  Christ  and  Fifth  Monarchy  ideas  illus- 
trated, 430,  431;  popular  belief  in  his  fanaticism  illustrated, 
432,  433 ;  his  connection  with  the  idea  of  a  Written  Constitu- 
tion, 433;  the  Written  Constitution  the  unique  feature  in  Amer- 
ican polity,  434 ;  absence  of  such  a  controlling  instrument  in 
English  polity,  435  ;  value  of  the  Written  Constitution  in  Amer- 
ica, Hammond's  view,  436;  Sir  H.  Maine's  view,  437;  histor- 
ical development  of  Constitutional  idea,  its  relation  to  Magna 
Charta,  to  mediaeval  guild  charters,  the  People  ordain  it,  438 ; 
American  precedents,  Social  Compact  on  "  Mayflower,"  Rhode 
Island  agreement,  Connecticut  Constitution  of  1639,  439?  Ire* 
ton's  Agreement  of  the  People,  Cromwell's  Instrument  of  Gov- 
ernment, 440;  occasion  of  the  Healing  Question,  441  ;  recom- 
mends a  Constitution,  442 ;  to  be  formulated  by  a  convention  of 
representatives  of  the  People,  443 ;  style  of  i\\&Healing  Question, 
444;  Cromwell  as  Protector,  445  ;  Vane's  appearance  then,  their 
portraits  by  Houbraken,  446;  the  headsman's  axe,  447. 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

RICHARD'S  PARLIAMENT 448-479 

Vane  disciplined  by  Cromwell,  448,  449;  sent  to  Carisbrook 
Castle,  449;  his  letters  thence  to  Cromwell,  450,  451  ;  descrip- 
tion of  Carisbrook  Castle,  452  ;  political  and  religious  writings, 
453 ;  Cromwell's  later  career,  454 ;  Milton's  panegyric,  455 ; 
Cromwell's  last  days  and  death,  456,  457 ;  the  factions,  Crom- 
wellians,  Wallingford  House  Party,  457,  458  ;  convening  and 
constitution  of  Richard's  Parliament,  458 ;  Vane  returned  for 
Whitchurch,  position  and  character  of  Lambert,  459;  Claren- 
don's account  of  Vane  and  Haselrig  at  this  time,  460;  Vane's 


CONTENTS.  XXIX 

speeches,  on  Richard  as  Protector,  461 ;  describes  his  growth  in 
Republicanism,  462;  denounces  the  Petition  and  Ad-vice,  463  ; 
on  limiting  Protector's  power,  against  an  Upper  House,  464;  as 
champion  of  the  People,  465  ;  denunciation  of  Richard,  466,  467 ; 
character  and  influence  of  Haselrig,  467,  468  ;  character  of  Scott, 
468;  fall  of  Richard,  469;  restoration  of  the  Rump,  scene  be- 
tween Vane  and  Prynne,  470  ;  abdication  of  Richard,  471  ;  false 
position  of  the  Rump,  472 ;  Cromwellians  retire  from  the  field, 
473;  Lambert  turns  out  the  Rump,  474;  Vane  sides  with  the 
Army,  474  ;  the  Committee  of  Safety,  last  effort  at  a  Constitution, 
475  ;  desertion  of  Lawson,  Fleetwood's  weakness,  476 ;  Vane 
judged  by  the  Rump,  Monk's  march  to  London,  477 ;  restoration 
of  Long  Parliament,  Scott's  intrepidity,  478  ;  the  Convention 
Parliament  and  Restoration,  479. 

CHAPTER  XX. 

How  VANE  HAS  BEEN  JUDGED 480-506 

Imprisonment  of  Vane,  fate  of  other  Republicans,  480 ;  the 
Peopled  Case  Stated,  variety  of  judgments  as  to  Vane,  481  ; 
testimony  of  Maidstone,  of  Baxter,  482,  483  ;  of  Stuartist  writers, 
Anthony  a  Wood,  Biographia  Britannica,  484 ;  of  Bishop  Bur- 
net,  484,  485 ;  of  Clarendon,  485,  486  ;  Don  Juan  Lamberto,  486 ; 
Vane  in  popular  ballads,  Vanity  of  Vanities,  487 ;  A  Psalm  of 
Mercy,  488  ;  epitaph  on  Vane,  489;  Henry  Stubbe,  490;  his  de- 
fence of  Vane,  Hume's  view,  491 ;  Clarendon's,  491,  492 ;  that 
of  Sir  James  Mackintosh,  492 ;  of  Carlyle,  492,  493 ;  summary 
of  evidence  as  to  Vane's  power  as  a  statesman,  494,  495 ;  his 
relative  rank  among  leading  Commonwealthsmen,  496;  com- 
parison between  Vane  and  Cromwell,  496-498 ;  his  limitations, 
his  fanaticism,  498-500;  palliations  for  his  weakness,  500,  501; 
Vane  and  the  free-thinkers,  501,  502;  wise  and  beautiful  spirit 
of  the  Meditations  concerning  Man's  Life,  502,  503 ;  of  the 
People's  Case  Stated,  504-506. 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

THE  TRIAL  BEFORE  THE  COURT  OF  THE  KING'S  BENCH      .     507-530 

Vane's  letter  to  his  wife  from  the  Scilly  Islands,  507,  508 ;  re- 
moval to  the  Tower  of  London  and  arraignment,  508  ;  his  undi- 
minished  power,  his  impression  of  the  significance  of  his  trial, 
509;  the  indictment,  510;  the  counts  of  the  indictment,  511,  512; 
Vane's  defence,  the  controversy  with  Charles  I,  513  ;  Salus pop- 
uli  supremo,  lex,  514;  the  claim  that  Vane  was  not  a  Republican, 
515,  516;  vagueness  of  the  term,  517;  his  belief  in  the  sov- 


XXX  CONTENTS. 

ereignty  of  the  People,  his  tone  as  regards  the  Stuarts,  518-520; 
Vane  defended,  521-523;  he  declares  the  subordinacy  of  the 
King,  523;  Charles  II  refuses  to  grant  pardon,  524;  Vane's 
answer  to  the  charge  of  keeping  out  the  King,  526;  the  sentence, 
527;  extract  from  the  Reasons  for  an  Arrest  of  Judgment, 
528,  529;  Vane  and  Strafford  compared,  530. 

CHAPTER    XXII. 

THE  SCAFFOLD 531-546 

Vane's  address  to  his  children  the  day  before  his  execution, 
531 ;  his  prayer  on  the  morning  of  his  last  day,  532,  533;  descrip- 
tion of  Tower-Hill,  533,  534;  account  by  an  eye-witness  of  the 
closing  scenes,  534;  in  the  Tower,  535;  the  progress  to  the  scaf- 
fold, 536,  537;  his  dress  and  mien,  537;  his  last  speech,  538;  in- 
terrupted by  the  trumpets,  539;  speech  continued,  540;  second 
interruption,  541 ;  the  speech  broken  off,  542;  his  last  prayer,  543, 
544;  the  execution,  545;  outpouring  of  a  disciple,  545,  546  ;  the 
triumph  of  Vane's  ideas,  546. 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 

WHY   THE   STORY   OF    VANE    is    TIMELY   AT   THE   PRESENT 

HOUR 547-568 

Was  the  American  Revolution  worth  while  ?  547  ;  American 
representation  in  the  British  Parliament  favored  by  James  Otis, 
548;  Franklin's  ideas,  549;  Grenville's,  Adam  Smith's,  550; 
political  unification  desirable,  551;  advantage  to  the  individual 
of  being  the  citizen  of  a  great  country,  551,  552;  the  present 
English-speaking  dependencies  of  Great  Britain,  Canada,  Cape 
Colony,  553;  New  Zealand,  Australia,  554,  555;  England  as  the 
parent  of  democratic  republics,  555  ;  the  American  Revolution 
not  a  mistake,  556;  a  benefit  to  the  other  English  dependencies, 
to  England  herself,  557,  558;  decay  of  English  freedom  in  reign 
of  George  III,  558-560;  the  permanence  of  America  dependent 
upon  faithfulness  to  English  traditions,  560,  561;  substantial 
identity  of  English-speaking  peoples,  561-563;  interdependence 
desirable,  564  ;  obstructing  prejudices,  565  ;  effort  to  mitigate 
them,  566;  Vane  as  a  connecting  link,  566-568. 


LIST  OF   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAGB 

SIR  HENRY  VANE.    After  Houbraken's  engraving  of  the  portrait 

by  Sir  Peter  Lely Frontispiece. 

FACSIMILE  OF  LETTER  TO  JOHN  WINTHROP        .        .        .        .81 

PLAN  OF  BATTLE  OF  MARSTON  MOOR 219 

PLAN  OF  BATTLE  OF  NASEBY 246 

THE  GREAT  SEAL  OF  THE  COMMONWEALTH   ....      368 


YOUNG  SIR   HENRY  VANE. 


PART   I. 

VANE  IN   MASSACHUSETTS. 
1612-1637. 

CHAPTER   I. 

BORN    IN   THE    PURPLE. 

IT  would  be  hard  to  name  an  English  family  which 
during  many  centuries  has  possessed  a  prominence 
so  honorable  as  that  of  the  Vanes.1  The  stock  ap- 
pears to  have  been  in  its  origin  Welsh,  a  certain 
Howel  ap  Vane  of  Monmouthshire,  before  the  Con- 
quest, being  the  most  remote  ancestor  to  whom  the 
heralds  ascend.  The  family  became  fixed,  however, 
in  the  county  of  Kent,  and  afterward  in  Durham, 
in  England.  As  one  traces  the  genealogy  the  name 
Henry,  or  Harry,  often  occurs,  and  several  times 
in  noteworthy  connections.  At  Poictiers,  in  1356, 
where  the  Black  Prince  with  12,000  followers  routed 
60,000  French,  taking  prisoner  John,  their  King,  a 
Harry  Vane  was  among  the  conspicuous  heroes  of 
the  field.  He  had  a  part  in  capturing  the  French 
King,  obtaining  from  the  monarch  his  right-hand 


i  rv 


Collins's  Peerage,  vol.  iv.,  ar-  tannica,  article  "  Vane  ;  "  Stately 
tide  "Vane;"  Burke's  Peerage,  Homes  of  England,  article  "  Raby 
article  "  Vane  ;  "  Biographia  Bri-  Castle." 


2  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1554. 

gauntlet  in  token  of  submission.  He  received  on 
the  spot,  from  the  Black  Prince,  the  accolade,  and  "  a 
dexter-gauntlet "  remains  to  this  day  as  a  "  crest "  and 
a  "  charge  "  on  the  Vane  arms. 

In  the  seventh  generation  from  the  young  soldier 
of  Poictiers,  a  young  Sir  Henry  Vane  took  part  in 
the  insurrection  of  Sir  Thomas  Wyatt,  who  raised 
Kent  against  Bloody  Mary,  at  the  time  when  Protes- 
tant England  felt  outraged  by  her  match  with  Philip 
II.  of  Spain.  The  leader  was  captured  at  Temple 
Bar,  and  died  on  the  scaffold,  but  mercy  was  shown 
to  Vane  on  account  of  his  youth.  He  sat  afterwards 
in  two  Parliaments,  in  the  time  of  Elizabeth,  and  was 
the  great-grandsire  of  the  more  famous  rebel  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  whose  long  battle  against  arbi- 
trary power  is  about  to  engage  our  attention.  In 
modern  times  the  name  has  continued  illustrious. 
In  1 832,  still  another  Harry  Vane,  Duke  of  Cleveland 
and  Earl  of  Darlington,  although  the  most  important 
considerations  weighed  upon  him  in  favor  of  contin- 
uing old  abuses,  incurred,  with  the  characteristic 
courage  of  his  line,  the  curses  of  the  class  to  which 
he  belonged,  and  the  diminution  of  his  own  power 
and  resources,  by  standing  faithfully  at  the  side  of 
Lord  John  Russell,  for  the  reforms  which  were  to 
save  English  freedom.1 

As  England's  crisis  in  the  seventeenth  century  was 
particularly  sharp,  so  then  it  was  that  the  fine  quality 
of  this  admirable  strain  was  especially  shown.  In  the 
history  of  the  period,  two  Sir  Harry  Vanes  are  prom- 
inent among  the  men  of  mark.  The  elder,  born  in 

1  Fbrster,  Life  of  Vane,  in  the     wealth,"  Harper's  edition,  p.  265, 
"  Statesmen     of     the     Common-    note. 


1612.]  BORN  IN  THE  PURPLE.  3 

Elizabeth's  day,  was  knighted  by  James  I.  at  the  age 
of  twenty-two,  and  came  quickly  into  notice.  He 
married  Frances  Darcy,  of  an  old  Essex  family,  and 
in  1612,  at  Hadlow  in  Kent,  was  born  to  the  pair 
the  son  whose  career  we  are  to  study.  The  father,  a 
man  rather  busy  and  bustling  than  energetic,  became 
noted,  while  his  son  was  coming  forward  through 
boyhood  and  youth,  as  a  traveller,  and  as  one  accom- 
plished in  the  modern  tongues  ;  he  early  reached  dis- 
tinctions of  another  kind.  He  sat  in  Parliament  in 
1614,  at  the  age  of  twenty-five,  and  soon  became 
cofferer,  or  treasurer,  of  Prince  Charles,  then  a  hand- 
some boy,  looking  forward,  we  may  be  sure,  to  a  future 
in  which  the  Ironsides  and  the  grewsome  headsman 
by  no  means  appeared.  The  elder  Vane  sat  also  in 
the  Parliaments  of  1620  and  1625,  and  in  every  suc- 
ceeding Parliament  until  his  death  during  Cromwell's 
Protectorate.  Besides  young  Sir  Harry,  three  sons 
and  five  daughters  were  born  to  him.  When  James, 
with  his  maundering  and  fitful  arbitrariness,  came  to 
his  end  at  last,  the  accession,  in  1625,  of  the  digni- 
fied young  prince,  with  brow  high  and  narrow,  with 
grave,  melancholy  eyes  and  habits  so  decorous,  was  the 
opportunity  of  the  elder  Vane.  "  Steenie,"  the  Duke 
of  Buckingham,  whom  Charles  had  been  taught  by 
his  father  to  prize  so  unworthily,  sank  at  Portsmouth 
beneath  the  stroke  of  Felton's  dagger.  Vane  stood 
at  'once  in  high  favor  at  court.  Henrietta  Maria, 
daughter  of  the  great  Henri  IV.,  who  came  from 
France  to  be  queen  of  Charles  I.,  a  woman  lively, 
impressionable,  full  of  brightness,  looked  approvingly 
upon  the  cofferer.  He  was  soon  a  member  of  the 
Privy  Council;  in  1631  ambassador  to  Christian  IV. 


4  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1626. 

of  Denmark ;  then  to  the  great  Gustavus  Adolphus, 
in  those  days  at  the  height  of  his  fame,  the  highest 
diplomatic  position  at  that  time  existing,  in  which 
Vane  conducted  affairs  with  skill.  He  followed  the 
Swedes  in  the  memorable  campaign  of  1632,  return- 
ing to  England  in  the  month  of  November,  when 
the  Swedish  hero  laid  down  his  life  at  the  Great 
Stone  at  Llitzen.  In  the  spring  of  the  following 
year,  Charles,  on  his  way  to  be  crowned  in  Scotland, 
received  magnificent  entertainment  at  Raby  Castle, 
in  Durham,  the  ancient  seat  of  the  Nevilles,  which 
Vane  had  bought  in  1626.  From  cofferer,  the  cour- 
tier became  comptroller  of  the  King's  household, 
and  at  length  principal  Secretary  of  State.  As  the 
troubles  drew  on  which  were  to  make  the  decade 
from  1640  to  1650  a  time  of  blood,  we  find  him  at 
one  time  in  the  field,  at  the  head  of  a  regiment  of  a 
thousand  men.  His  service  for  the  most  part,  how- 
ever, was  in  a  civil  capacity,  and  no  man  of  that  day 
felt  more  fully  the  royal  favor.  There  was  a  shadow 
on  his  life  from  the  enmity  of  a  certain  powerful 
figure,  who  stood  by  his  side  as  a  servant  of  the 
King.  But  this  hated  foe  came,  through  him,  as  we 
shall  see,  suddenly  to  the  block.  As  the  elder  Vane 
stood  in  middle  life,  all  had  gone  well  for  him ;  he 
had  found  the  brightest  worldly  success. 

Seldom  has  baby  had  in  its  mouth  spoon  more 
golden,  therefore,  than  the  little  Harry,  who  was 
brought  at  length  from  the  green  depths  of  Kent  to 
London,  and  put  to  school,  with  some  hundreds  more 
of  privileged  boys,  at  Westminster,  under  the  shadow 
of  the  great  abbey.  The,  nickname  "  Harry "  the 
Henrys  of  the  old  days  never  outgrew,  even  though 


BORN  IN  THE    PURPLE.  5 

they  became  afterwards  kings  and  knights.  As  a 
boy  our  Harry  was  bounding  and  spirited,  probably 
committing  no  greater  follies  or  offences  than  the 
venial  ones  of  hearty,  healthy  youth.  His  Puritan 
conscience  in  later  days,  as  was  the  case  with  Bun- 
yan,  was  ill  at  ease  over  his  boyish  escapades,  and 
even  on  the  scaffold  he  accused  his  earlier  self  with 
a  bitterness  quite  undeserved.  Lambert  Osbalde- 
stone  was  his  master,  and  boys  destined  to  attam 
great  fame  were  his  companions  —  Thomas  Scott  and 
Arthur  Haselrig,  republicans  afterward  scarcely  less 
noted  than  Vane  himself,  long  his  friends  and  help- 
ers, until  at  last  the  complications  of  evil  times  car- 
ried them  apart  from  one  another. 

When  the  Westminster  life  had  passed,  young 
Harry  became  a  "gentleman  commoner"  at  Magda- 
len College,  Oxford.  He  was  now  a  youth  of  sixteen, 
and  the  university  was  prepared  to  treat  obsequiously 
the  son  of  so  thriving  a  courtier.  But  already  a 
restiveness  under  restrictions  began  to  appear  in 
him,  the  germ  of  the  sturdy  rebel  spirit  which  was 
to  become  so  marked  in  the  future.  At  his  matricu- 
lation he  found  the  time-honored  scholastic  costume 
repugnant  to  him.  "  He  quitted  his  gown,  and  put 
on  a  cloak ;  " l  and  though  he  studied  for  a  time,  he 
was  at  length  removed,  and  sent  by  his  father  to 
Vienna,  in  1631,  in  the  train  of  the  English  ambas- 
sador. It  was  not  a  good  place  for  a  boy  of  nineteen. 
At  the  court  of  Ferdinand  II.,  who  was  struggling 
against  Gustavus  Adolphus,  he  lived  in  an  atmos- 
phere of  intrigue.  He  maintained  a  correspondence, 
partly  in  French,  partly  in  cipher,  with  his  father, 
1  Anthony  a  Wood,  Athena  Oxonienses,  article  "Vane." 


6  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [16319 

then  at  the  Swedish  headquarters,  and  became  privy 
to  important  state  secrets.1  He  knew  well  the  wily 
Jesuits  who  swayed  the  Austrian  state  counsels,  and 
one  can  hardly  resist  the  conclusion  that  a  certain 
cunning  for  which,  with  all  his  nobleness,  he  after- 
wards became  famous,  must  have  found  here  an 
important  stimulus.  A  series  of  Harry's  letters  of 
this  time  still  exists  in  the  Public  Record  Office  in 
London. 

August  10,  1631,  he  apologizes  for  feeling  so  little 
interest  in  the  Thirty  Years'  War.  "  Je  suis  si  peu 
penchant  au  faict  de  la  guerre.  .  .  .  Je  ne  puis  pas 
disposer  mon  naturel  et  affections  a  une  affaire  que 
vous  semblez  tant  approuver."  He  is  very  respectful, 
very  sorry  to  disappoint  his  father  "  apres  tant  de 
soin  et  d'espence  que  vous  cues  employez  sur  moy." 
Passing  over  a  number  of  letters  on  state  topics,  in 
which  Father  Quiroga,  the  evil  genius  in  those  days 
of  the  court  at  Vienna,  is  often  referred  to,  letters 
which  the  faded  ink  and  frequent  diplomatic  cipher 
make  unintelligible  except  to  such  indefatigable  stu- 
dents as  Mr.  S.  R.  Gardiner,  the  writer  finds  one  writ- 
ten from  Nuremberg,  November  27,  i63i,2  when 
Harry  was  on  his  way  home,  which  has  some  inter- 
esting passages  relating  to  that  town  just  before  it 
became  the  scene  of  the  memorable  struggle  between 
Wallenstein  and  Gustavus. 

In  the  old  French  of  the  age  of  Richelieu,  he 
says  he  has  not  ceased  to  take  medicine  "  pour  esta- 
blir  et  parfaire  la  guerison  de  ma  maladie,"  from 

1  S.  R.  Gardiner,  History  of  2  Received  by  Vane,  Sr.,  at  Mo- 
England,  viii.  173.  ritzburg.  State  Papers,  Germany, 

1631. 


1631.]  BORN  IN  THE  PURPLE.  7 

which  he  had  suffered  "  trois  sept  maines."  He  has 
had  a  coat  made  for  his  journey,  as  his  father  directed, 
and  also  has  brought  another  with  him :  "  Mais  le 
malheur  vouloit  que  nostre  coche  se  renversoit  au 
milieu  d'un  eau,  que  non  seulement  1'habit,  mais 
toutes  mes  livres,  papiers,  et  autres  petites  besognes 
sont  si  gastes  et  estrangement  accommodes,  qu'a  peine 
me  reste-il  de  1'esperance  "  of  using  the  things  again. 
In  this  time  of  confusion  hosts  charge  high,  on  his 
journey.  He  has  only  350  left  of  the  1,600  dollars 
he  started  with.  He  will  get  what  he  needs  of  M. 
Pestalouche,  according  to  directions.  His  stay  in 
Nuremberg,  where  he  receives  great  attention,  will 
cost  something.  He  is  called  on  at  once  by  Kem- 
nitius,  commissary  of  the  King  of  Sweden,  who 
stays  to  supper.  Dr.  Fetzer,  former  ambassador  at 
Vienna  for  Nuremberg,  and  also  M.  Calendrini,  wait 
upon  him,  who  extend  all  sorts  of  courtesies.  Lords 
of  the  town  send  him  "  douze  grands  pots  de  diverses 
vins,"  and  offer  to  show  him  the  city.  "  Yesterday, 
after  dinner,  Comte  de  Solmes  sent  his  '  Reistmaistre,' 
a  baron,  to  visit  me."  Vane  returns  the  call.  The 
count  hopes  to  have  the  honor  of  seeing  old  Sir 
Harry.  "  You  can  well  judge  all  this  will  cost." 
Young  Harry  hopes,  in  the  margin,  his  father  will 
not  mind  the  writing ;  he  is  in  a  great  hurry,  and 
badly  accommodated  with  pens,  ink,  and  paper.  This 
is,  however,  his  most  legible  letter,  and  one  wishes 
he  had  always  had  Nuremberg  stationery. 

It  has  been  believed  that  Vane  spent  a  period  at 
Geneva,  and  that  he  was  much  affected  by  the  theo- 
logical atmosphere  of  Calvin's  town.  In  coming 
years,  he  was  to  show  in  practical  life  a  force  and 


8  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1632. 

sagacity  surpassed  by  few  men  of  the  English  race. 
Side  by  side  with  this,  however,  existed  an  extraordi- 
nary dexterity  in  and  liking  for  intellectual  disputes, 
the  subtle  word-splitting  for  which  the  school-men 
had  been  famous,  whose  mantle  had  fallen  upon  the 
shoulders  of  the  reformed  divines.  As  yet  the  abil- 
ity for  affairs  lay  undeveloped  in  our  hero.  He  in- 
haled perhaps  for  a  time  the  air  of  the  Swiss  city, 
sulphurously  pungent  with  the  fumes  of  a  grim  the- 
ology. As  a  high-born  young  stranger,  to  whom  all 
doors  were  open,  he  may  have  been  present  as  spec- 
tator or  combatant  at  battles  where  the  weapons  were 
dialectics,  and  may  have  sometimes  taken  part  among 
the  capped  and  gowned  champions,  the  pupils  and 
heirs  of  the  men  whose  zeal  and  intellectual  force 
had  prevailed  to  fix  upon  Protestantism  a  philosophy 
so  utterly  repulsive.  When  at  length  he  came  home, 
at  any  rate,  his  character  had  taken  on  an  austerity 
quite  foreign  to  youth  :  he  was  a  pronounced  enemy 
to  the  Church  of  England,  both  as  to  its  government 
through  bishops  and  its  formal  service. 

When  Harry  at  last  returned  to  England,  a  friend 
of  his  father,  Sir  Tobie  Matthew,  wrote  to  the  father 
a  letter,  a  passage  from  which  is  given  here  from  the 
autograph:  "London,  March  29,  1632.  Your  Lo?s 
familie  is  in  perfect  health  except  ye  indisposition 
of  your  sonne.  Believe  me,  my  lord,  I  find  him  ex- 
treamly  improved  and  very  worthy  of  his  father.  His 
french  is  excelently  good,  his  discourse  discreet,  and 
his  fashion  comely  and  faire,  and  I  dire  venture  to 
foretell  that  he  will  grow  a  very  fitt  man  for  any  such 
honour  as  his  fathers  merits  shall  bespeake,  or  the 
kings  gbodnesse  imparte  to  him." l 

1  State  Papers,  Domestic,  ccxix.  64. 


I633-4-]  BORN  IN  THE  PURPLE.  9 

When  father  and  son  came  face  to  face,  however, 
stately  and  able  as  the  young  man  was,  the  parent 
naturally  was  full  of  consternation  at  the  shape  into 
which  the  boy  had  developed.  As  to  personal  beauty 
and  grace,  indeed,  he  probably  was  all  his  father  could 
ask.  But  he  had  absorbed  the  Puritanism  which  the 
court  so  hated.  At  court,  Sir  Henry,  as  one  preferred 
by  the  Queen,  was  a  principal  figure.  He  was  trusted 
with  grave  responsibilities,  and  besides  was  not  averse 
to  the  masques  and  dances  which  the  French  princess 
enjoyed,  and  easily  tolerant  of  the  popish  ceremonies 
and  the  priests,  through  her  installed  in  the  palace 
at  Whitehall.  The  father  was,  in  fact,  an  easy  man 
of  the  world,  who  took  the  court  of  Charles  I.  as  he 
found  it,  with  no  misgivings,  just  as  he  afterwards  ac- 
commodated himself  with  little  trouble  to  Parliament 
and  Protectorate.  "  Bustling  "  everywhere,  as  Claren- 
don describes  him,  he  fitted  in  at  a  later  time  among 
the  halberds  and  armor  of  the  Ironsides,  as  now 
among  the  pillows,  hautboys,  and  silken  fringes  of 
Stuart  housekeeping,  —  everywhere  with  a  pliability 
which  enabled  him  to  keep  in  the  foreground,  how- 
ever circumstances  might  change.  Such  a  father,  of 
course,  stood  aghast  before  the  sad-browed,  uncom- 
promising Puritan  son.  He  had  hoped  for  promise 
of  a  different  kind,  and  the  question  began  at  once 
to  press  whether  a  son  of  such  dispositions,  with  such 
abilities  to  make  them  dangerous,  —  for  he  made  upon 
all  an  impression  of  power,  —  might  not  seriously  com- 
promise his  own  prospects. 

Sir  Harry  Vane  did  what  he  could  to  counteract 
the  tendencies  which  were  so  manifest.  Young 
Harry  was  introduced  at  court,  where  the  way  to 


10  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1633-4. 

all  favors  was  open  before  him,  had  not  the  severe 
stripling  eyed  coldly  the  pomp  and  glitter.  Already, 
in  his  eyes,  the  divinity  that  doth  hedge  a  king  was 
utterly  unapparent.  There  is  a  story  that  his  father 
left  him  alone,  purposely,  in  a  room  where  he  was 
certain  to  come  into  close  contact  with  the  King, 
hoping  that  the  real  personal  dignity  and  grace  of 
Charles  might  produce  an  effect.  Young  Harry,  how- 
ever, hid  himself  behind  the  arras.  The  King,  en- 
tering, and  seeing  the  arras  move,  poked  with  his 
cane  at  the  supposed  intruder,  till  Harry  was  forced 
to  present  himself,  and  retire  in  confusion.1 

As  Charles  possessed  no  glamour  that  could  befool 
him,  so  the  bishops  could  offer  no  argument  that 
weighed  at  all  in  his  eyes.  Those  were  the  days  of 
the  power  of  Laud,  already  Bishop  of  London,  soon 
to  become  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  to  enter 
with  Strafford  upon  the  policy  of  "  Thorough,"  which 
was  to  bring  them  both  to  the  block.  As  yet  there 
was  no  muttering  of  coming  danger :  the  prelate 
swayed  the  court,  and  was  quite  ready,  at  the  elder 
Vane's  request,  to  take  in  hand  the  moody  boy,  dan- 
gerously infected  from  the  continental  cities  that 
had  gone  into  such  extremes  in  the  revolt  from 
Rome.  One  can  imagine  the  pair :  Laud,  small 
and  choleric,  punctiliously  habited  in  the  bands  and 
cap  which  he  made  essentials  of  his  calling,  shallow 
but  alert,  perfectly  sincere,  walking  the  narrow  An- 
glican ridge,  on  one  side  of  which  lay  Rome,  on 
the  other  Puritanism  ;  Harry  Vane,  serious,  fluent 
through  his  training,  speaking  out  without  fear  his 

1  Godwin,  Hist,  of  Commonwealth,  vol.  iii.  p.  2. 


1635.]  BORN  IN  THE  PURPLE.  1 1 

heresies.  The  prelate  was  no  match  intellectually 
for  the  youth  he  had  taken  in  hand.  It  is  recorded 
that  the  debate,  from  a  good-natured  remonstrance 
on  the  Bishop's  part,  soon  became  heated.  The  baf- 
fled Laud  lost  his  temper,  the  face  of  the  little  man 
flushing  red,  as  was  his  wont.  Harry  Vane  con- 
temptuously tossed  his  long  curls,  for  so  far,  if  a  Pu- 
ritan, he  was  no  Roundhead.  The  interview  ended, 
and  the  father  feared  his  son  was  incorrigible. 

Young  Harry  now  took  a  resolution  not  at  all 
strange  under  the  circumstances.  Fixed  as  he  was 
in  his  views,  there  was  no  career  for  him  in  England. 
How  irksome  life  would  be  in  the  presence  of  his  dis- 
appointed father,  of  the  King  whom  he  had  avoided, 
the  church  dignitary  he  had  defied !  Of  roaming  on 
the  continent  he  had  had  enough.  Why  not  try  New 
England  ?  It  was  almost  leaving  the  planet,  to  be 
sure,  to  go  there,  but  he  was  at  the  age  when  dis- 
tance and  difficulty  do  not  appall.  Laud  was  driving 
scores  of  the  Nonconformist  ministers,  among  the 
best  of  English  brains  and  hearts,  beyond  the  seas. 
Hundreds  of  the  sturdy  yeomanry,  the  flocks,  were 
following  these  exiled  shepherds.  Now  and  then  men 
and  women  of  gentle,  even  of  noble,  birth  had  braved 
the  risks,  and  still  others  were  upon  the  brink  of  de- 
parture. Harry  Vane  set  his  face  westward.  His 
father  remonstrated,  but  it  is  said  the  King  interfered 
to  remove  the  obstacles.  In  1635,  when  Harry  was 
just  twenty-three  years  old,  a  correspondent  of  his 
father's  great  rival,  Sir  Thomas  Wentworth,  then 
Lord-Lieutenant  of  Ireland,  writes  to  Wentworth : * 

1  Forster,  Life  of  Vane,  in  "  Statesmen  of  the  Commonwealth,"  p. 
267  (Harper  &  Bros.,  1846). 


12  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1635. 

"  The  Comptroller  Sir  Henry  Vane's  eldest  son  hath 
left  his  father,  his  mother,  his  country,  and  that  for- 
tune which  his  father  would  have  left  him  here,  and 
is,  for  conscience'  sake,  gone  into  New  England, 
there  to  lead  the  rest  of  his  days.  ...  I  hear  that 
Sir  Nathaniel  Rich  and  Mr.  Pym  have  done  him 
much  hurt  in  their  persuasions."  Wentworth,  soon 
to  be  Earl  of  Strafford,  probably  heard  now  of  the 
youth  for  the  first  time  :  he  was  to  know  him  after- 
ward under  circumstances  very  memorable.  The 
thought,  "  So  Pym  demoralizes  the  young  men,"  may 
perhaps  have  risen  in  his  mind,  as  he  dwelt  for  a 
moment  on  the  great  national  leader,  once  his  friend, 
but  now  his  foe. 

Another  scrap  has  come  down,  relating  to  Vane's 
emigration.  A  certain  George  Garrard,  writing  to 
Edward,  Viscount  Conway  and  Killultagh,  says,1 
Sept.  1 8,  1635  :  "  Sir  Henry  Vane  also  hath  as  good 
as  lost  his  eldest  son,  who  is  gone  into  New  Eng- 
land for  conscience'  sake:  he  likes  not  the  discipline 
of  the  Church  of  England ;  none  of  our  ministers 
would  give  him  the  sacrament  standing;  no  persua- 
sions of  our  Bishops  nor  authority  of  his  parents 
could  prevail  with  him  :  let  him  go." 

But  let  us  hear  the  young  man  speak  for  himself. 
Upon  the  eve  of  sailing  he  writes  to  his  father : 2 
"  My  humble  suite  is  that  you  wil  be  pleased  to  dis- 
patch my  passe  w1.1?  his  Ma^,  and  if  you  shall  so  think 
fitt,  to  vouchsafe  me  by  this  bearer  an  assurance  from 
yourself  that  you  have  really  resolved  this  place  for  me 

1  Mass.  Hist.  Soc.  Proceed,  vol.  xii.  p.  246. 
3  Ibid.  pp.  245,  246. 


1635.]  BORN  IN  THE   PURPLE.  13 

to  goe  to,  that  I  may  wl-hout  farther  protraction  of  time 
prepare  myself  effectually  for  it  w*»  things  sutable  for 
the  place.  And,  Sr,  beleeve  this  from  one  that  hath 
the  honour  to  bee  your  sonne  (though  as  the  case 
stands  judged  to  be  a  most  unworthy  one),  that  how- 
somever  you  may  bee  jealous  of  circumventions  and 
plots  that  I  entertaine  and  practise,  yet  that  I  will 
never  do  anything  (by  God's  good  grace)  which  both 
w*  honour  and  a  good  conscience  I  may  not  justify 
or  bee  content  most  willingly  to  suffer  for.  And 
were  it  not  that  I  am  very  confident  that  as  surely  as 
there  is  truth  in  God,  so  surely  shall  my  innocency 
and  integrity  bee  cleared  to  you  before  you  dye,  I 
protest  to  you  ingenuously  that  the  jealousy  you  have 
of  mee  would  breake  my  heart.  But  as  I  submitt  all 
other  things  to  the  disposall  of  my  good  God,  so  do 
I  also  my  honesty  amongst  the  rest,  and  though  I 
must  confesse  I  am  compassed  about  w*»  many  infir- 
mitys,  and  am  but  too  great  a  blemish  to  the  religion 
I  do  professe,  yett  the  bent  and  intention  of  my  heart 
I  am  sure  is  sincere,  and  from  hence  flowes  the 
sweete  peace  I  enjoy  w*  my  God  amidst  these  many 
and  heavy  trialls  wc-  now  fall  upon  me  and  attend 
me :  this  is  my  only  support  in  the  losse  of  all  other 
things,  and  this  I  doubt  not  of  but  that  I  have  an 
all  sufficient  God  able  to  protect  me,  direct  me,  and 
reward  me,  and  w^in  his  due  time  will  doe  it,  and 
that  in  the  eyes  of  all  my  freinds. 

"  Your  most  truely  humble  and  obedient  Sonne, 

"  H.  VANE. 

"  Cherring  Cross,  this  7*  of  July,  1635." 


14  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1635. 

As  Vane  appeared  upon  the  ship,  among  the  Puri- 
tans who  were  seeking  the  New  World,  he  was  at 
first  regarded  with  suspicion.  He  was  maturing  into 
the  presence  which  his  portraits  give  him,  —  an  oval 
countenance  of  fair  complexion,  running  above  the 
large,  widely-opened,  black-brown  eyes  into  an  ample 
brow,  a  straight,  prominent  nose,  beneath  which  the 
lips,  full  and  brightly  red,  as  of  a  man  of  strong  vital- 
ity, are  very  firm  and  somewhat  stern.  The  lower 
face  possesses  strength,  and  the  head,  carried  above 
the  shoulders  in  an  erect  and  manly  poise,  has  a  mass 
of  rich  brown  flowing  locks,  like  a  Cavalier,  instead 
of  the  close-clipped  hair  that  one  would  look  for  in 
the  man  about  to  become  an  uncompromising  Repub- 
lican. Clarendon,  the  Cavalier  historian,  a  witness 
highly  prejudiced,  although  his  characterizations  of 
foes  as  well  as  friends  are  often  not  only  extremely 
graphic  but  fair,  has  described  the  appearance  of 
Harry  Vane  as  " unbeautif ul,"  though  making  "men 
think  there  was  somewhat  in  him  of  extraordinary," 
a  want  of  attractiveness  which  the  historian  declares 
he  came  well  by,  since  his  parents  were  neither  of 
them  conspicuous  for  grace.  The  head  and  face,  at 
any  rate,  are  grave  and  powerful,  a  proper  front  for 
such  a  leader  as  he  was  destined  to  become.1  His 
companions  on  shipboard  thought  at  first  he  might 
be  a  spy,  and  found  his  long  hair  especially  repug- 
nant. As  the  voyage  continued,  however,  and  the 

1  The  frontispiece  is  after  Hou-  characteristics   mentioned   in   the 

braken's  engraving  of  the  portrait  text  are  more  apparent  in  the  en- 

of  Vane  by  Sir  Peter  Lely.    Faith-  graving  of  Faithorne  than  in  that 

orne's    portrait   represents  Vane  of  Houbraken. 
at  an  earlier  time.    Some  of  the 


1635.]  BORN  IN  THE  PURPLE.  15 

cabin  and  deck  of  the  little  tossing  vessel  were  the 
scene  of  serious  discourse  and  sombre  devotion,  his 
true  quality  soon  became  apparent,  and  before  the 
point  of  Cape  Cod  was  sighted  he  was  master  of  all 
hearts. 


CHAPTER   II. 

MASSACHUSETTS    BAY   IN    1635. 

THE  colony  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  in  1635,  was 
far  from  being  well  established.  Settlers  enough  had 
crossed  the  sea  to  occupy  a  few  points  on  the  coast 
and  just  within  the  mouths  of  the  rivers.  Salem,  to 
the  north,  was  older  than  Boston  by  a  year  or  two ; 
and  still  farther  northward,  at  Agawam,  John  Win- 
throp  and  his  followers  were  just  reclaiming  the  farms 
which  were  to  form  Ipswich.  About  Boston  as  a 
centre  were  closely  grouped  Charlestown,  Newtown, 
soon  to  become  Cambridge,  Watertown,  Roxbury, 
and  Dorchester.  Through  forty  miles  of  woods,  one 
could  struggle  to  Plymouth,  where  the  roots  of  the 
earlier  colony  were  beginning  to  grasp  the  sand  with 
some  firmness,  after  a  precarious  hold  of  fifteen  years. 
As  yet  there  was  no  settlement  beyond  tide-water ; 
the  scattered  groups  of  Englishmen  clung  to  the 
shore,  for,  bleak  though  it  was,  it  was  safer  than  the 
savage  and  panther-haunted  swamps  and  thickets 
which  shut  them  in  to  the  landward.  They  held  fast 
to  the  sea,  because  it  was  the  path  homeward  also ; 
their  best  path,  moreover,  to  one  another,  as  they 
coasted  now  to  the  headland  of  Manomet,  now  to 
Cape  Ann,  or  were  borne  by  the  tide  to  the  neighbors 


I635-]  MASSACHUSETTS  BAY  IN  1635.  17 

about  the  harbor  and  up  the  Charles  River.  There 
is  a  pleasant  suggestiveness  in  the  names  of  the  an- 
cient ships  as  they  occur  in  the  records,  taking  us 
back  into  the  tenderness  with  which  the  hearts  of 
the  pioneers  watched  them  as  they  came  and  went. 
The  "  Mayflower  "  leads  the  way ;  the  first  ship  the 
settlers  build  is  the  "  Blessing-of-the-Bay ; "  the 
"  Hand-Maid  "  conveys  cattle  ;  lookouts  on  the  head- 
lands sight  the  approaching  "  White  Angel ;  "  the 
"  Welcome  "  brings  a  company  of  friends ;  the 
"  Hopewell,"  the  "  Friendship,"  and  the  "  Charity " 
bring  news  and  food.  Scarcely  larger  they  were  than 
the  harbor-craft  of  our  time,  but  stanch  and  often 
swift.  "  Mr.  Ball  his  ship,"  says  Winthrop,  "  went 
from  hence  to  England  and  saw  land  there  in  eigh- 
teen days." 

Though  it  could  not  yet  be  said  that  the  colony 
was  certain  to  live,  things  were  in  better  condition 
than  a  few  years  before,1  when  the  opportune  arrival 
of  the  "  Lyon  "  had  rescued  the  plantation  from  a 
want  that  might  soon  have  become  famine.  Once 
the  Governor  even  could  not  safely  venture  upon  a 
short  walk  from  his  door  without  arms  to  defend  him- 
self from  the  wolves  ;  or  if  an  Englishman  lost  him- 
self in  the  woods  while  hunting  a  stray  heifer,  it 
depended  entirely  upon  the  capricious  good-nature 
of  the  sannup,  or  squaw,  whom  he  might  chance  to 
meet,  whether  he  returned  alive  to  his  friends.  Both 
wild  man  and  wild  beast,  however,  had  now  become 
respectful ;  plenty  was  beginning  to  prevail,  and  the 
"  Lyon  "  arriving  again  after  a  round  trip  across  the 

1  Winthrop 's  Journal,  i.  41  ;  (Palfrey,  Hist,  of  N.  E.  i.  325,  note.) 


1 8  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1635. 

Atlantic,  the  farmers  could  spread  an  abundant 
Thanksgiving  dinner  for  the  friends  she  brought, 
tired  of  their  ocean  fare.1 

The  charter,  originally  intended  for  a  trading  cor- 
poration, of  which  the  members  were  to  live  in  Eng- 
land, directing  thence  the  labor  of  their  servants  in 
America,  had  been  transferred  across  the  Atlantic. 
The  rules  established  for  the  private  company  had 
become  transformed  into  the  foundations  of  a  broad 
polity.2  A  Governor,  Deputy-Governor,  and  eigh- 
teen Assistants  held  the  power,  according  to  the  ori- 
ginal charter.  Seven  Assistants,  with  the  Governor 
or  Deputy,  meeting  once  a  month,  made  a  quorum. 
Annually,  four  Great  or  General  Courts  were  held,  to 
elect  and  commission  officers,  and  to  vote  upon  the 
admission  of  freemen.  Only  eleven  or  twelve  of  the 
original  Assistants,  who  at  length  were  called  also 
Magistrates,  ever  came  over.  In  1631,  church-mem- 
bership was  made  a  condition  of  the  franchise.  In 
1632,  the  freemen  had  insisted  on  and  secured  the 
right  to  choose  the  Governor  and  Deputy.  At  the 
court  for  the  general  election  in  May,  the  whole  body 
of  freemen  were  present,  but  at  the  three  other  an- 
nual courts  deputies  attended.  The  Governor  was 
no  longer  the  head  of  a  mere  commercial  enterprise, 
but  began  to  seem  like  the  chief  of  a  nascent  State ; 
the  board  of  Assistants  had  grown  into  a  senate ;  the 
employees  of  a  corporation  had  become  the  citizens 
of  a  Commonwealth. 

"  The  rocky  nook,  with  hilltops  three, 
Looked  eastward  from  the  farms, 

1  Winthrop,  i.  63.  2  Memorial  Hist,  of  Boston,  i.  156. 


1635-1  MASSACHUSETTS  BAY  IN  1635.  19 

And  twice  each  day  the  flowing  sea 
Took  Boston  in  its  arms."1 

In  1635,  the  rocks  and  the  Trimountain  were  still 
visible,  as  they  are  no  longer,  and  the  flowing  sea,  not 
as  now  shouldered  out  by  square  leagues  of  "  made 
land,"  could  embrace  Boston  so  overwhelmingly  that 
at  spring  tides  there  was  little  left  above  the  sur- 
face but  the  three  hills.  Close  by  what  is  now  State 
Street  stood  the  primitive  town-hall  and  church. 
The  Governor,  Winthrop,  lived  near  the  site  of  the 
Old  South,  the  water  for  the  family  needs  coming 
from  the  spring  that  still  flows  among  the  founda- 
tions of  the  Post-Office.  The  huts  of  the  pioneers 
straggled  from  the  lower  ground  up  upon  the  steep 
slopes.  On  the  highest  summit  rose  the  pole  sur- 
mounted by  the  beacon.  Looking  from  its  foot  down 
upon  the  peninsula  of  about  seven  hundred  acres, 
the  irregular  village  street  could  be  seen  to  part  into 
cart-tracks,  and  at  length  into  cow-paths,  while  sea- 
ward, beyond  the  Castle  watching  the  channel  on  the 
present  site  of  Fort  Independence,  could  be  seen  the 
harbor  islands,  the  headland  at  Hull,  and  at  length 
the  open  ocean. 

If  we  look  at  the  colonists  themselves,  while  of 
the  laymen  the  larger  portion  were  of  humble  estate 
and  simple  education,  there  were  a  number  of  gentle 
bicth  and  ample  means.  The  Lady  Arbella  John- 
son, who  died  in  the  early  months,  was  daughter  of 
the  third  Earl  of  Lincoln.  Roger  Harlakenden,  the 
Magistrate,  whose  sister  Mabel  became  the  wife  of 
John  Haynes,  Governor  of  Massachusetts,  and  after- 

1  Emerson,  Boston  Hymn. 


2O  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1635. 

wards  a  principal  founder  of  Connecticut,  could  trace 
his  line  back  to  the  Plantagenets.  The  family  of 
Saltonstall  was  illustrious.  John  Winthrop,  the 
father  of  the  colcny,  usually  elected  Governor  at  the 
May  General  Court,  and  even  when  not  Governor 
the  mainstay  of  the  enterprise,  through  his  abundant 
means,  his  public  spirit,  and  his  remarkable  wisdom, 
was  of  most  honorable  station.  He  came  from  a  Suf- 
folk family,  staked  in  the  enterprise  a  fortune  yielding 
an  annual  income,  for  those  days  most  handsome,  of 
;£6oo  or  ^700,  and,  though  not  always  in  favor,  al- 
ways fortunately  possessed  sufficient  influence  to  turn 
things  to  a  happy  issue.  It  was  not  a  democratic 
community.  Blood  was  respectfully  deferred  to. 
Wrote  Winthrop  :  1  "  The  best  part  of  a  community 
is  always  the  least,  and  of  that  best  part  the  wiser 
part  is  always  the  lesser."  In  this  expression  Win- 
throp's  associates  in  the  management  of  affairs  would 
undoubtedly  have  concurred.  Of  the  dignitaries  of 
the  earlier  time,  Vane  almost  alone  had  any  trace 
of  modern  American  ideas,  and  in  his  mind,  as  will 
be  seen,  the  free  notions  for  which  he  afterwards  con- 
tended so  powerfully  were  less  clearly  defined  in  his 
Massachusetts  days  than  was  afterwards  the  case. 

"  Let  men  of  God  in  court  and  churches  watch 
O'er  such  as  do  a  toleration  hatch," 

wrote  Dudley,2  a  figure  scarcely  less  conspicuous  in 
the  first  days  than  Winthrop  ;  and  intolerance  was 
received  in  the  colony  as  a  matter  of  course,  with  the 
noteworthy  exceptions  presently  to  be  considered. 

1  Journal,   vol.   ii.   p.   428,  ed.        3  Hutchinson,   Hty.   of  Mass. 
1853.  Bay,  i.  75- 


1635.]  MASSACHUSETTS  BAY  IN  1635.  21 

Leaving  out  a  few  leading  spirits  among  the  lay- 
men, no  class  in  the  colony  exercised  anything  like 
the  influence  possessed  by  the  ministers.  As  regards 
birth  and  powerful  connections,  matters  in  those  days 
so  highly  regarded,  no  men  were  superior  to  them. 
John  Wilson,1  teacher  of  the  Boston  church,  was 
grandnephew  of  Grindal,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
and  had  married  the  daughter  of  Sir  John  Mansfield, 
master  of  the  Minories  and  the  Queen's  surveyor. 
The  first  wife  of  Peter  Bulkeley,  of  Concord,  was 
aunt  of  Sir  Thomas  Allen,  Lord  Mayor  of  London, 
and  his  second  wife  a  daughter  of  Sir  Richard  Chit- 
wood.2  The  wife  of  Sherman,  of  Watertown,  was  the 
granddaughter  of  an  earl.3  At  first  the  ministers 
had  some  loose  connection  with  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land. They  became,  however,  zealous  Nonconform- 
ists, and  as  Laud  attempted  to  impose  tenets,  vest- 
ments, and  ceremonies  savoring  of  the  abhorred 
Popery  which  had  been  left  behind  in  the  preceding 
century,  they  fell  away  more  and  more  into  Indepen- 
dency, ceasing  to  remember  with  regret  the  univer- 
sity fellowships,  the  rectorships  of  fine  parishes,  the 
cathedral  establishments,  which  they  had  resigned 
for  life  in  the  wilds. 

Those  stout  divines  were  shapes  grisly  and  por- 
tentous. John  Cotton,  the  chief  among  them,  said, 
"  I-  have  read  the  Fathers  and  the  Schoolmen,  and 
John  Calvin  too,  but  I  find  that  he  that  has  Calvin 
has  them  all ; "  and  the  same  great  light  "  loved  to 
sweeten  his  mouth  with  a  piece  of  Calvin  before  he 

1  Mather,  Magnaliay  i.  p.  276.  2  Ibid.  p.  364. 

Hartford  ed.,  1820.  8  Ibid.  p.  466. 


22  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1635. 

went  to  sleep."  Like  him,  the  brethren  in  general  had 
taken  into  their  souls,  in  spite  of  its  bristling  points 
and  sulphurous  reek,  the  toughest  theology  ever  en- 
tertained in  Christendom.  They  had  managed  to  di- 
gest and  assimilate  it,  reconciling  it  with  the  universe, 
and  finding  illustration  for  it  from  learning  of  the 
widest  reach  then  possible.  What  the  ministers  so  rel- 
ished they  administered  to  all  as  proper  spiritual  food. 
They  could  turn  it,  as  occasion  served,  into  milk  for 
babes  or  meat  for  men  ;  and  in  prayer,  sermon,  lec- 
ture, and  every  sort  of  private  exhortation,  deliver  it 
hour  after  hour,  without  failure  of  voice  or  weakness 
of  knee.  The  sincerity  of  the  ministers  was  perfect, 
their  zeal  glowing.  What  could  stand  against  men 
thus  in  earnest,  and  made  powerful  by  a  training  so 
tremendous  ?  In  the  theocracy  they  stood  like  tow- 
ers, the  chosen  men  for  learning,  genius,  and  charac- 
ter, by  whom  all  were  swayed.  They  fought  with 
one  another  in  the  fiercest  controversies,  in  terms  to 
us  scarcely  intelligible,  over  matters  which  the  world 
now  regards  as  trivial,  or  absurd,  or  perhaps  repulsive, 
—  a  battle  no  more  engaging  modern  sympathies 
than  the  war  of  the  "  dragons  of  the  prime." 

Even  in  their  moods  of  relaxation  they  appear  to 
modern  taste  scarcely  more  attractive.  After  a  cer- 
tain fashion  they  were  all  poets,  and  the  quips  and 
rhymes  in  which  these  tough  bows  of  Geneva  unbent 
themselves,  for  the  moment  leaving  the  prowling  ad- 
versary unvexed  by  their  missiles,  are  curious  enough. 

We  must  look  at  a  few  of  the  ministerial  figures 
who  are  to  appear  in  juxtaposition  more  or  less  close 
with  young  Harry  Vane,  during  his  American  life, 


1635.]  MASSACHUSETTS  BAY  IN  1635.  23 

or  soon  after.  John  Wilson,  first  pastor  of  the 
church  in  Boston,  as  Cotton  was  the  teacher  (the 
New  England  pulpits  from  which  such  constant  can- 
nonading was  demanded  were  of  necessity  double- 
barrelled),  was  a  bold  and  combative  character,  who 
combined  with  the  fiercest  polemic  activity  a  great 
taste  and  faculty  for  the  conceits  and  quirks  which 
the  ministers  so  generally  loved.  He  was  matchless 
in  skill  to  detect  allegories,  to  invent  anagrams,  to 
work  out  acrostics,  and  to  twist  puns  and  conceits 
into  consolatory  verses  on  mournful  occasions.  The 
"  Magnalia  "  gives  this  epitaph  upon  him  :  — 

"  This  father  will  return  no  more, 
To  sit  the  moderator  of  thy  sages. 
But  tell  his  zeal  for  thee  to  after  ages, 
His  care  to  guide  his  flock  and  feed  his  lambs, 
By  words,  works,  prayers,  psalms,  alms,  and  anagrams."  l 

More  interesting  than  Wilson  was  Nathaniel 
Ward,  minister  of  Ipswich,  who  deserves  especial 
mention  not  only  because  his  famous  "  Simple  Cob- 
bler of  Aggawam  "  2  was  the  most  pungent  and  amus- 
ing book  which  early  New  England  produced,  but 
because  the  principles  for  which  he  stood  were  in 
sharpest  contrast  with  those  which  Vane  defended. 
Ward  had  travelled  much  and  known  distinguished 
people ;  for  instance,  Bacon,  Archbishop  Usher,  the 
scholar  Paraeus  of  Heidelberg.  At  Heidelberg,  in- 
deed, he  had  known  the  Princess  Elizabeth,  sister  of 
Charles  I.  of  England,  and  wife  of  the  "  Winter 
King  "  of  Bohemia.  He  had  a  picturesque  reminis- 
cence of  Prince  Rupert.  "  I  have  had  him  in  my 

1  Tyler,  Am.  Literature,  \.  271.  a  Ibid.  i.  229,  etc. 


24  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1635. 

arms  —  I  wish  I  had  him  there  now.  If  I  thought 
he  would  not  be  angry  with  me,  I  would  pray  hard 
to  his  maker  to  make  him  a  right  Round-Head,  to 
forgive  all  his  sins,  and  at  length  to  save  his  soul  not- 
withstanding all  his  God-damn  mes."  1  The  marked 
thing  in  Ward's  book,  besides  its  racy  frankness  and 
fervor,  is  its  intolerance,  curious  enough  as  compared 
with  modern  liberality  or  indifference,  but  not  dis- 
pleasing to  the  Simple  Cobbler's  contemporaries. 
"  My  heart  hath  naturally  detested  four  things  :  the 
standing  of  the  Apocrypha  in  the  Bible,  foreigners 
dwelling  in  my  country  to  crowd  our  native  subjects 
into  the  corners  of  the  earth,  alchemized  coins,  toler- 
ations of  divers  religions,  or  of  one  religion  in  segre- 
gant  shapes.  Poly-piety  is  the  greatest  impiety  in 
the  world.  To  authorize  an  untruth  by  a  toleration 
of  state  is  to  build  a  sconce  against  the  walls  of 
heaven,  to  batter  God  out  of  his  chair.  It  is  said  that 
men  ought  to  have  liberty  of  their  conscience,  and 
that  it  is  persecution  to  debar  them  of  it.  Let  all  the 
wits  under  the  heavens  lay  their  heads  together  and 
find  an  assertion  worse  than  this,  (one  excepted)  I 
will  petition  to  be  chosen  the  universal  idiot  of  the 
world." 

Ward's  straightforward  book,  though  not  published 
until  ten  years  after  Vane's  American  sojourn,  re- 
flected the  sentiments  of  the  New  England  of  that 
time.  The  modern  idea  of  toleration  had  scarcely 
been  heard  of  in  the  world.  One  of  its  chief  apos- 
tles had,  however,  appeared,  and  already  uttered  the 
great  thought  which  before  many  years  was  to  have 
from  him  more  emphatic  and  elaborate  development. 

1  Simple  Cobbler  of  Aggawam,  Pulsifer's  ed.,  p.  66. 


1635.]  MASSACHUSETTS  BAY  IN  1635.  25 

"  In  the  year  1654,"  says  Cotton  Mather,1  "a  cer- 
tain wind-mill  in  the  Low  Countries,  whirling  around 
with  extraordinary  violence  by  reason  of  a  violent 
storm  then  blowing,  the  stone  at  length  by  its  rapid 
motion  became  so  intensely  hot  as  to  fire  the  mill, 
from  whence  the  flames,  being  dispersed  by  the  high 
winds,  did  set  a  whole  town  on  fire.  But  I  can  tell 
my  reader  that  above  twenty  years  before  this  there 
was  a  whole  country  in  America  like  to  be  set  on 
fire  by  the  rapid  motion  of  a  wind-mill  in  the  head  of 
one  particular  man."  Such  was  the  judgment  of  the 
theocracy  of  Massachusetts  Bay  upon  Roger  Wil- 
liams. 

Roger  Williams,  born  in  Wales,  was  now  about 
thirty  years  old.  It  has  been  believed  he  had  some  kin- 
ship with  Cromwell.  He  was  a  Charter-House  school- 
boy in  London,  and  was  afterwards  at  Jesus  College 
in  Oxford.  His  patron  in  his  young  days  was  the 
great  lawyer  Sir  Edward  Coke,  for  whom  his  love  was 
strong,  and  whose  speeches  he  took  down  sometimes 
in  short-hand.  He  became  a  minister  of  the  Church 
of  England,  but  was  soon  so  thorough  a  Separatist 
that  there  was  no  safety  for  him  before  Laud,  except 
in  flight.  "  That  man  of  honour  and  wisdom  and 
piety,  your  dear  father,"  he  wrote  later  in  life  to  a 
daughter  of  Coke,  "  was  often  pleased  to  call  me  his 
son  ;  and  truly  it  was  as  bitter  as  death  to  me,  when 
Bishop  Laud  pursued  me  out  of  the  land,  and  my 
conscience  was  persuaded  against  the  National 
Church  and  ceremonies  and  Bishops,  beyond  the 
conscience  of  your  dear  father,  —  I  say  it  was  as  bit- 

1  Magnalia,  vol.  ii.  430. 


26  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1635. 

ter  as  death  to  me,  when  I  rode  Windsor-way  to  take 
ship  at  Bristowe,  and  saw  Stoke  House,  where  that 
blessed  man  was,  and  durst  not  acquaint  him  with 
my  conscience  and  my  flight." 

Roger  Williams  arrived  in  Boston  Feb.  5,  1631, 
and  almost  at  once  took  steps  which  caused  him  to 
be  set  down  as  hot-headed  and  impracticable.  He 
was  invited  to  become  teacher  to  the  church  in  Salem, 
and  began  his  ministrations  in  that  simple  structure, 
still  in  existence,  the  timbers  of  which,  squared  by  the 
Puritan  broad-axes,  were  from  the  trees  felled  by  the 
settlers  in  the  first  clearing.  When  he  was  called  to 
Salem  the  General  Court  remonstrated  : 1  "  Whereas 
Mr.  Williams  had  refused  to  join  with  the  congrega- 
tion at  Boston,  because  they  would  not  make  a  pub- 
lick  declaration  of  their  repentance  for  having  com- 
munion with  the  churches  of  England,  while  they 
lived  there ;  and  besides,  had  declared  his  opinion 
that  the  magistrate  might  not  punish  the  breach  of 
the  Sabbath,  nor  any  other  offence  as  it  was  a  breach 
of  the  first  table,  therefore,  they  marvelled  they  would 
choose  him  without  advising  with  the  Council ;  and 
withal  desiring  that  they  would  forbear  to  proceed 
till  they  had  conferred  about  it."  Palfrey  expresses 
the  opinion2  that  "to  assume  at  once  a*n  attitude  of 
opposition  to  the  church  argued  an  eccentricity  un- 
promising of  usefulness.  It  would  be  likely  to  offend 
at  home,  if  repentance  were  professed  for  having 
taken  communion  with  the  Church  of  England." 

In  spite  of  the  opposition  of  the  court,  Williams 

1  Winthrop^s  Journal,  April  12,  1631. 
8  Hist,  of  N.  E.  i.  407. 


1635.]  MASSACHUSETTS  BAY  IN  1635.  2J 

was  ordained  at  Salem,  but  presently  went  to  Ply- 
mouth as  assistant  to  the  minister  there,  where  he 
disconcerted  the  Pilgrims  by  questioning  their  title 
to  their  lands  as  not  having  been  fairly  bought  from 
the  natives,  but  being  by  King's  grant,  though  the 
Pilgrims  had  made  such  satisfaction  to  the  natives 
as  they  valued.  Brewster  was,  no  doubt,  glad  to  get 
rid  of  him,  when  the  uneasy-footed  fellow  soon  after 
went  to  Salem  again,  where  he  broke  out  once  more, 
this  time  against  ministerial  associations,  which  he 
held  to  be  dangerous,  as  threatening  to  become  pres- 
byteries. He  made  submission  for  having  questioned 
the  Pilgrims'  right  to  their  land,  and  his  document 
was  burnt ;  but  on  all  sides  he  saw  abuses,  and  to  see 
them  was  for  him  to  hit  at  them.  He  insisted  on 
women's  wearing  veils ;  then,  it  is  said,  abetted  Endi- 
cott  in  cutting  the  cross  out  of  the  English  flag.  He 
soon  recanted  his  recantation  as  to  denying  the  valid- 
ity of  the  King's  patent,  and  insisted  as  before  upon 
the  great  sin  of  claiming  through  that  a  right  to  the 
country.  Again,  he  spoke  against  administering  oaths 
to  the  unregenerate,  counselling  the  Salem  church  to 
break  off  all  relations  with  the  other  churches  of  the 
colony,  because  they  allowed  the  practice.  His 
church  demurred ;  whereupon  he,  though  the  teacher, 
refused  to  commune  with  them,  and  even  refused  to 
pray  with  his  wife  or  ask  a  blessing  at  the  table  where 
she  was,  because  she  declined  to  withdraw  from  the 
church  communion.  The  magistrates  sent  Captain 
Underbill  to  put  him  quietly  on  board  a  ship  bound 
for  England,  a  way  they  had  of  dealing  with  embar- 
rassing characters.  He,  however,  had  taken  to  the 


28  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1635. 

woods,  where  the  sight  of  a  spring,  running  from  a 
pleasant  hill  into  a  stream  which  opened  into  Narra- 
gansett  Bay,  determined  his  place  of  settlement,  and 
Providence  began.  Among  his  protests,  says  Hutch- 
inson,  occurred  this  one,  which  ought  not  to  have 
been  ranked  with  the  others  :  "  that  to  punish  a  man 
for  any  matter  of  his  conscience  is  persecution." 
Williams  drove  in  his  criticism  at  this,  that,  and  the 
other  thing,  until  the  whole  feeble  social  fabric  was 
shaken,  and  for  the  magistrates  to  treat  him  as  they 
did  was,  they  honestly  thought,  but  proper  fidelity 
to  their  trust.  For  forty  years  he  remained  at  Prov- 
idence, changing  his  opinions  sometimes  capriciously. 
Though  such  a  stickler  for  rights  of  conscience,  he 
could  "  persecute  "  as  well  as  others.  He  hated  the 
Quakers.  "  These  simple  reformers  are  extremely 
ridiculous  in  giving  thou  and  thee  to  everybody,  which 
our  nation  commonly  gives  to  familiars  only,  and  they 
are  insufferably  proud  and  contemptuous  unto  all 
their  superiors  in  using  thou  to  everybody.  ...  I  have 
therefore  publicly  declared  myself,  that  a  due  and 
moderate  restraint  and  punishment  of  those  incivili- 
ties, though  pretending  conscience,  is  so  far  from  per- 
secution, properly  so  called,  that  it  is  a  duty  and 
command  of  God  to  all  mankind."1  In  other  ways, 
at  Providence,  "  the  infinite  liberty  of  conscience " 
of  some  who  followed  him  was  abhorrent  to  him. 

Roger  Williams,  we  may  be  sure,  was  a  noble  fel- 
low, full  of  power  and  sincerity,  and  in  his  thought  as 
to  toleration  one  of  the  great  leaders  of  the  world. 
When  he  began  himself  to  conduct,  in  Rhode  Island,  a 

1  George  Fox  digged  out  of  his  Burrowes,  p.  199,  etc. 


1635-]  MASSACHUSETTS  BAY  IN  1635.  29 

state,  the  necessity  of  limitations  probably  came  home 
to  him  as  it  had  not  done  before.  He  could  hardly 
have  been  as  sharp  as  he  afterwards  showed  himself 
against  those  who  endangered  the  common  welfare 
without  feeling  himself,  in  his  heart,  that  the  treat- 
ment he  had  once  received  in  Massachusetts  was 
not  altogether  ill-deserved.  A  beautiful  thing  about 
him  is  the  perfect  candor  and  good-nature  which 
throughout  characterize  him.  He  shows  no  rancor, 
but  in  the  strait  into  which  Massachusetts  presently 
fell  renders,  as  will  be  seen,  at  the  risk  of  his  life,  a 
most  essential  service  to  those  who  had  just  driven 
him  out. 

To  these  ministerial  portraits  must  be  added, 
finally,  a  most  important  figure.  The  great  John 
Cotton,  so'  marked  a  character  in  Boston  during  the 
American  career  of  Vane,  and  vastly  influential,  as 
will  hereafter  be  shown,  in  shaping  the  course  of 
things  in  England,  was  a  bachelor  of  divinity  of  Cam- 
bridge, once  a  fellow  and  dean  of  Emanuel  College, 
afterwards  a  great  light  among  the  Nonconformists 
of  England,  and  an  especial  mark  of  the  persecution 
of  Laud.  He  had  been  rector  of  the  handsome 
St.  Botolph's  church  in  Boston,  in  Lincolnshire, 
where  his  fame  as  a  preacher  became  very  great. 
He  came  to  America  in  1633,  at  the  age  of  forty-eight. 
Boston  had  received  its  name  from  his  English  home, 
by  way  of  doing  honor  to  him,  and  in  the  idea  that 
the  compliment  might  weigh  with  him  as  an  induce- 
ment to  emigrate.  He  became  at  once  the  spiritual 
father  and  glory  of  the  new  town,  and  the  master 
of  the  New  England  theocracy.  He  was  a  man  of 


30  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1635. 

most  solid  virtues  and  abilities,  of  herculean  vigor, 
and  a  most  "  lively  and  painful  "  preacher.  A  four- 
hour  sand-glass  stood  on  his  study-table,  which  he 
turned  over  three  times  before  his  day's  work  was 
finished.  As  with  his  profession  in  general,  verse- 
making  with  him,  too,  was  a  recreation,  —  the  result 
usually  worthless  enough.  He  thus  draws  comfort 
from  reflections  on  his  past  career : l 

"  When  I  think  of  the  sweet  and  gracious  company 

That  in  Boston  once  I  had, 
And  of  the  long  peace  of  a  fruitful  ministry 

For  twenty  years  enjoyed, 
The  joy  that  I  found  in  all  that  happiness 

Doth  still  so  much  refresh  me 
That  the  grief  to  be  cast  out  into  a  wilderness 

Doth  not  so  much  distress  me." 

Here,  however,  is  something,  given  in  Mather's 
"  Magnalia,"  2  quite  different  in  character ;  an  effusion 
as  pathetic  and  natural,  perhaps,  as  can  be  found  in 
the  volume,  usually  so  dreary,  of  colonial  poetry. 
The  lines  were  written  after  the  death  of  two  chil- 
dren by  small-pox. 

"  Suffer,  saith  Christ,  your  little  ones 

To  come  forth  me  unto, 
For  of  such  ones  my  kingdom  is, 

Of  grace  and  glory  too. 
We  do  not  only  suffer  them, 

But  offer  them  to  thee  : 
Now,  blessed  Lord,  let  us  believe 

Accepted  that  they  be  ; 
That  thou  hast  took  them  in  thine  arms, 

And  on  them  put  thine  hand, 
And  blessed  them  with  sight  of  thee 

Wherein  our  blessings  stand." 

Though    sometimes    at    sword's  -  points  with   the 

1  Masson,  Life  of  Milton,  ii.  555.  2  Magnalia,  vol.  i.  p.  260. 


1635-]  MASSACHUSETTS  BAY  IN  1635.  31 

churches,  his  authority  constantly  grew.  In  his  later 
years  Cromwell  writes  to  him  as  "  My  dear  Friend," 
and  his  death  in  1652  was  foretold,  as  people  be- 
lieved, by  portents.  There  appeared  "  a  comet,  hav- 
ing a  dim  light,  waxing  dimmer  and  dimmer,  a  very 
signal  testimony  that  God  had  then  removed  a  burn- 
ing and  a  shining  light  out  of  the  heaven  of  his 
church  here,  unto  celestial  glory  above."  A  portrait 
of  this  protagonist  of  New  England  Puritanism  shows 
a  face  framed  in  the  ample  curls  of  a  flowing  wig, 
above  Geneva  bands,  —  a  face  remarkable  for  a  cer- 
tain square  strength,  the  eyes  far  apart,  the  nose 
massive,  the  chin  firm,  the  brow  broad;  a  front  in- 
dicative of  balance  and  good  nerve.  His  voice  was 
sympathetic,  his  bearing  impressive.  The  innkeeper 
at  Derby,  having  Cotton  for  a  guest,  wished  him 
gone,  since  "  he  was  unable  to  swear  while  that  man 
was  under  his  roof." 


CHAPTER   III. 

THE    BOY    GOVERNOR. 

HARRY  VANE  reached  Boston  in  the  ship  "Abigail," 
on  the  6th  of  October,  1 635.  The  suspicion  of  his  ship- 
mates, among  whom  was  a  character  at  times  scarcely 
less  famous  than  he  in  after-days,  the  Rev.  Hugh 
Peters,  had,  long  before  the  voyage  was  ended,  given 
way  to  deference.  As  the  new  company  mingled  with 
the  people  of  the  colony,  they  prepared  a  smooth 
way  for  him  to  positions  of  influence.  It  was  part  of 
his  errand  in  America  to  settle,  in  conjunction  with 
Governor  Winthrop's  son  John,  Connecticut;  but 
the  feeling  toward  him  in  Boston,  almost  at  once, 
partook  of  infatuation,  and  he  remained  in  Massa- 
chusetts. Before  he  had  been  two  months  in  the 
country,  on  Nov.  30,  the  town  records  report :  "  At 
a  general  meeting,  agreed  that  none  of  the  members 
of  this  congregation  or  inhabitants  among  us,  shall 
sue  one  another  at  the  law  before  Mr.  H.  Vane,  and 
the  two  elders,  Mr.  Thos.  Oliver  and  Thos.  Leverett, 
have  had  the  hearing  and  the  deciding  of  the  cause 
if  they  can."  Before  he  had  been  in  the  colony  three 
months,  we  find  him,  in  connection  with  Hugh  Pe- 
ters, attempting  to  revise  the  administration  of  the 
government  in  a  way  implying  much  presumption. 


1636.]  THE  BOY  GOVERNOR.  33 

A  council  was  called,  at  which  were  present  Win- 
throp,  Dudley,  Haynes,  at  that  time  Governor,  and  the 
more  influential  ministers.  Winthrop  had  thought 
"  there  should  be  more  lenity  in  the  plantations  than 
in  a  settled  state  ;  "  but  a  different  opinion  being  ex- 
pressed, Winthrop  yielded,  upon  which  articles  were 
drawn  up  for  a  better  ordering  of  matters.  Vane 
and  Hugh  Peters  here  work  in  concert  in  supersed- 
ing the  policy  of  the  prudent  pioneers,  but  we  shall 
presently  find  Peters  sharply  rebuking  Vane  for  arro- 
gance. 

At  the  first  election  after  Vane's  arrival,  March  25, 
1636,  he  was  chosen  Governor.  A  noteworthy  move 
of  the  same  General  Court  was  the  appointment  of  a 
committee  as  follows : l  The  Governor,  Deputy  Gov- 
ernor, Thos.  Dudley,  John  Haynes,  Richard  Belling- 
ham,  Mr.  Cotton,  Mr.  Peters,  and  Mr.  Shepherd 
"  are  intreated  to  make  a  draught  of  lawes  agreeable 
to  the  word  of  God,  wch  may  be  the  ffundamentalls 
of  this  comonwealth,  and  to  present  the  same  to  the 
nexte  Genrall  Court."  A  similar  charge  had  been 
given,  the  preceding  year,  to  a  smaller  committee,2 
which  appears  to  have  done  nothing.  Of  course  the 
body  of  "  fundamentals "  contemplated  was  not  in- 
tended to  be  a  written  constitution,  — -  that  is,  an 
instrument  binding  the  Legislature :  the  charter 
stood  in  place  of  that.  A  code  of  laws  for  the  infe- 
rior courts  was  rather  in  the  minds  of  the  movers. 
"  It  is  ordered  that  in  the  meane  tyme  the  magis- 
trates and  their  assosiates  shall  pceede  in  the  courts 
to  heare  and  determine  all  causes  according  to  the 

1  Records  of  Mass.  i.  p.  174.  2  Ibid.  p.  147. 


34  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY   FANE.  [1636. 

lawes  now  established,  and  where  there  is  noe  law, 
then  as  near  the  lawe  of  God  as  they  can  ;  and  for 
all  business  out  of  court  for  wch  there  is  no  certaine 
rule  yet  sett  downe,  those  of  the  standing  Counsell,  or 
some  two  of  them  shall  take  order  by  their  best  dis- 
crecon,  that  they  may  be  ordered  and  ended  accord- 
ing to  the  rule  of  God's  word."  It  is  quite  possible, 
however,  that  the  incident  has  a  connection  with  the 
development  of  the  idea  of  a  written  constitution. 
In  years  long  after  this,  Vane  was  to  make  the  first 
clear  exposition  of  the  Constitutional  Idea,  showing 
how  the  fundamentals  must  be  laid  down  by  which 
a  free  state  shall  be  governed,  and  so  anticipating 
what  is  to-day  the  most  unique  and  one  of  the  most 
valuable  features  of  the  American  polity.  It  is  not 
unlikely  that  his  connection  in  his  Massachusetts 
days  with  this  committee  had  something  to  do  with 
this  interesting  work  of  his  later  time. 

The  new  Governor  was  hailed  by  the  colony  with 
more  ceremony  and  rejoicing  than  had  ever  yet 
been  shown  on  a  similar  occasion,  and  the  ships  in 
the  harbor  signalized  his  election  with  "  a  volley  of 
great  shot."  Young  Harry,  no  doubt  remembering 
the  state  he  had  so  often  witnessed  at  the  pompous 
European  courts,  assumed  a  circumstance  that  had 
not  before  been  seen.  Four  sergeants,  with  hal- 
berds, steel-caps  on  their  heads,  bandoliers,  and  small 
arms,  marched  before  him  whenever  he  went  to  the 
General  Court  or  to  church.  Within  a  week  of  his 
accession  he  carried  through  successfully  a  piece  of 
public  business  presenting  some  difficulties,  and  of 
considerable  importance  to  the  colony.  Shortly  be- 


1636.]  THE  BOY  GOVERNOR.  35 

fore,  the  "  Saint  Patrick,"  a  ship  belonging  to  Went- 
worth,  Lord  Deputy  of  Ireland,  arrived  in  the  harbor. 
The  Lieutenant  of  the  Castle  went  aboard  of  her  as 
she  came  up  the  harbor  and  made  her  strike  her  flag, 
which  Palmer,  her  master,  regarded  as  a  great  injury, 
since  the  Castle,  to  which  he  struck,  had  no  colors 
flying.  The  fact  was  that  the  New  England  planta- 
tion was  disposed  even  now  to  carry  things  in  a  most 
independent  spirit.  Endicott,  not  long  before,  had 
cut  the  cross  out  of  the  English  flag  as  an  idolatrous 
symbol,  and  the  settlers  were  by  no  means  ready  to 
recognize  it  as  their  ensign.  But  though  disposed  to 
proceed  with  the  high  hand,  the  planters  were  wary. 
Wentworth  was  not  a  man  to  brave  rashly.  The 
Magistrates  tried  to  satisfy  Palmer  by  making  the 
Lieutenant  acknowledge  on  board  the  ship  his  error, 
"  that  so  all  the  ship's  company  might  receive  satis- 
faction, lest  the  Lord  Deputy  should  have  been  in- 
formed that  we  had  offered  that  discourtesy  to  his 
ship  which  we  had  never  offered  to  any  before." l 

Palmer  seems  to  have  been  satisfied,  but  the  trou- 
bles as  to  the  shipping  were  not  over.  Fifteen 
vessels,  for  those  days  large,  lay  at  anchor  before  the 
town.  The  distinction  between  honest  sailor  and 
buccaneer  in  those  times  was  much  less  marked  than 
now,  and  the  people  naturally  felt  themselves  to  be 
in  some  peril,  if  so  many  crews  of  lawless  men  were 
allowed  to  lie  at  their  very  doors,  under  no  restraint. 
Enemies  might  readily  slip  in,  if  there  were  no  chal- 
lenging; and  hurtful  goods  be  imported,  if  there  were 
no  care.  To  manage  the  matter  required  some  deli- 

1  Winthrop,  i.  186. 


36  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY   VANE.  [1636. 

cacy.  Probably  the  fifteen  ships,  acting  in  concert, 
carried  guns  enough,  easily  to  blow  the  colony  into 
the  air.  Vane's  expedient  was  to  invite  the  captains 
to  dinner;  then,  when  all  were  in  good-humor  through 
the  rich  entertainment  and  the  affability  of  the  high- 
born young  Governor,  he  frankly  propounded  to 
them  the  embarrassment,  and  gained  their  assent  to 
certain  articles1  which  ensured  the  public  safety: 
"  Ist  that  all  ships,  which  should  come  after  this  year 
should  come  to  an  anchor  before  they  came  at  the 
fort,  except  they  did  send  their  boat  before,  and 
did  satisfy  the  commander  that  they  were  friends. 

2.  That,  before  they  offered  any  goods  to  sale,  they 
would  deliver  an  invoice,  &.c.,  and  give  the  gover- 
nour,  &.c.  twenty-four  hours'  liberty  to  refuse  &.c. 

3.  That  their  men   might  not  stay  on  shore  (except 
upon  necessary  business)  after  sunset.  —  These  they 
all   willingly  consented  unto."     Thus  with  a  little 
tact   and  good-natured   condescension,  Vane  put  a 
bridle  upon  the  wild  sea-horses,  who  seemed  likely 
to  ride  rough-shod  over  the  germinating  state. 

The  good  understanding  thus  produced  was  at 
once  strained  almost  to  breaking,  the  difficulty  as  to 
the  flag  coming  up  in  a  new  quarter.  Among  the 
English  ships  that  came  to  the  colony  was  one  called, 
by  a  felicity  of  fortune,  the  "  Hector,"  whose  crew,  be- 
fore the  weak  authorities  of  the  plantation,  were  loud- 
mouthed to  a  point  that  seemed  likely  to  make  much 
trouble.  The  "  Hector's  "  mate,  one  Miller,  declared 
that  because  the  King's  colors  were  not  shown  at  the 
fort,  the  colonists  were  all  traitors  and  rebels.  Vane 

1  Winthrop,  i.  187. 


1636.]  THE  BOY  GOVERNOR.  37 

sent  for  the  "  Hector's  "  captain,  whose  mood  was  still 
genial,  perhaps,  through  the  steam  of  the  Governor's 
punch,  and  the  captain  promised  to  deliver  the  loose- 
tongued  mate  to  the  authorities.  The  marshal  and 
four  sergeants  were  sent  to  the  ship  to  bring  him 
ashore,  but  the  crew,  bewhiskered  and  cutlassed, 
swaggered  before  the  majesty  of  the  colony,  and 
refused  to  give  up  their  officer.  The  captain  was 
forced  to  go  himself,  and  succeeded  in  bringing  the 
mate  to  the  land,  where  he  was  committed ;  where- 
upon the  sturdy  mariners  so  stormed  that  the  Magis- 
trates were  obliged  to  place  him  again  on  the  "  Hec- 
tor's "  deck,  obtaining  an  engagement,  however,  that 
he  should  be  produced  at  a  time  specified.  Miller 
appeared  at  the  time,  to  the  Magistrates'  relief,  in  a 
softened  mood.  He  confessed  to  his  words,  and  re- 
tracted them.  For  the  moment  the  embarrassment 
was  overcome,  but  a  matter  had  been  opened  which 
might  have  grave  consequences.  The  colony  had 
made  itself  liable  to  sharp  blame  from  those  who  were 
disposed  to  conform  to  the  powers  that  were,  and  in 
the  circumstances  such  criticism  as  that  of  the  "  Hec- 
tor's" mate  was  natural.  The  plantation  was  not 
ready  to  go  to  the  length  of  defying  the  power  of 
Charles.  Vane,  in  the  presence  of  the  Magistrates, 
talked  the  subject  over  good-naturedly  with  his 
friends,  the  captains.  They  declared  it  was  quite 
possible  they  might  be  examined  in  England  as  to 
what  colors  were  flying  in  Massachusetts,  and  they 
would  like  to  see  the  King's  flag  displayed  that  they 
might  give  a  good  report.  The  discussion  on  the 
point  was  grave.  The  authorities  slept  upon  it,  and 


38  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1636. 

counselled  with  the  wisest  heads,  but  were  no  nearer 
an  agreement  the  second  day  than  the  first.  At  last 
Vane,  supported  by  Dudley  and  Cotton,  determined 
that  though  the  colony  were  fully  persuaded  the  cross 
in  the  ensign  was  idolatrous  and  might  not  be  set  up 
in  the  colony's  flag,  yet  that  the  ensign  might  be  set 
up  at  the  fort,  since  the  fort  was  maintained  in  the 
King's  name.  It  was  accordingly  done,  Vane  bor- 
rowing colors  from  the  "  Saint  Patrick,"  since  there 
was  no  ensign  in  the  colony.  Winthrop,  however, 
and  many  others  washed  their  hands  of  the  conces- 
sion, admitting  the  Governor's  right  to  act,  but  deny- 
ing the  expediency  of  such  yielding.  It  is  hard  to 
see  that  the  young  head  in  this  affair  was  not  more 
prudent  and  reasonable  than  the  older  ones,  whose 
policy,  if  carried  out,  might  have  brought  upon  New 
England  an  application  of  "  Thorough  "  that  would 
have  quite  wiped  it  out.1 

Vane  had  been  but  a  few  weeks  in  the  Governor's 
chair  when  a  move  was  made  in  the  colony  indicat- 
ing that  the  days  had  come  to  an  end  when  the 
surveyors  thought  it  unnecessary  to  lay  out  a  road 
westward  beyond  Watertown,  as  it  would  never  be 
required.  The  settlement  at  Musketaquid  was  pro- 
jected, the  foundation  of  Concord,  the  first  town 
beyond  tide-water  in  New  England.  The  leading 
spirits  in  the  movement  were  Major  Willard,  an  in- 
fluential emigrant  from  Kent,  with  a  following  of 
sturdy  yeoman  neighbors,  who  now  went  with  him 
westward,  and  the  accomplished  Peter  Bulkeley,  a 
man  of  fifty-three,  who  had  been  a  fellow  of  St.  John's 

1  Winthrop,  i.  189. 


1636.]  THE  BOY  GOVERNOR.  39 

College  at  Cambridge,  a  minister  in  Bedfordshire,  and 
had  been  forced  by  Laud  to  emigrate  in  the  same 
year  in  which  Vane  had  come.  Vane  and  Winthrop, 
as  Governor  and  Deputy,  were  invited  to  be  present 
at  Newtown,  at  the  gathering  of  the  church  which 
was  to  proceed  thus  into  the  wilderness,  "  but  took  it 
in  ill  part  and  thought  not  fit  to  go,  because  they 
had  not  come  to  them  before,  to  acquaint  them  with 
their  purpose."  Whether  or  not  the  officials  were 
unreasonably  punctilious,  or  showed  only  just  resent- 
ment at  a  slight,  there  are  no  data  for  judging. 

Far  more  important  than  the  settlement  of  Con- 
cord was  the  departure  of  Hooker  with  the  Connecti- 
cut colonists,  which  took  place  in  the  early  summer. 
Thomas  Hooker,  a  stout-hearted  preacher,  once  fel- 
low of  Emanuel  College,  Cambridge,  the  associate  of 
John  Eliot  in  England,  and  afterwards  an  exile  in 
Holland,  was  a  figure  scarcely  less  prominent  among 
the  candlesticks  in  the  New  England  churches  than 
John  Cotton  himself.  The  latter,  although  they  had 
quarrels,  described  him,  after  his  death,  as  "  Farel, 
Viret,  and  Calvin,  [the  three  Geneva  worthies,] 
rolled  into  one. 

"  A  son  of  thunder  and  a  shower  of  rain, 
A  pourer  forth  of  lovely  oracles, 
In  saving  souls  the  sum  of  miracles."  l 

When  this  strong  character,  a  mature  man  of  fifty, 
proposed  to  set  out  to  Connecticut,  the  colony  was 
profoundly  stirred.  With  him  were  associated  other 
men  of  mark,  notably  John  Haynes,  who  had  just 
before  been  Governor.  The  matter  was  debated  pro 

1  Masson,  Life  of  Milton,  ii.  537. 


40  *  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1636. 

and  con.  Hooker  alleged  they  wanted  room  for  their 
cattle,  and  that  the  towns  were  too  near  together ; 
that  Connecticut  was  fruitful  and  commodious ;  and 
that  if  unoccupied  by  them,  it  might  fall  into  the 
hands  of  the  Dutch,  or  of  Englishmen  not  in  sym- 
pathy with  themselves.1  On  the  other  side,  the  inex- 
pediency of  dismembering  what  was  already  weak  was 
urged,  among  other  considerations.  When  it  came 
to  vote  in  the  General  Court,  permission  barely 
was  given.  Of  the  twenty-five  deputies  ten  opposed, 
and  among  the  Magistrates  only  the  Governor  and 
two  Assistants  were  favorable.  Liberty  was  at  last 
granted,  and  in  1636  the  emigrants  set  out.  Vane 
must  have  regarded  the  affair  with  great  interest,  for 
he,  in  company  with  young  John  Winthrop  and 
Hugh  Peters,  had  a  commission  to  manage  for  Lord 
Say  and  Sele,  Lord  Brooke,  and  others  their  patent 
of  Connecticut.  The  commissioners  proclaimed  the 
rights  of  their  principals,  which  the  emigrants  ac- 
knowledged, and  we  may  imagine  Vane  looking  on 
in  the  lovely  June  weather  as  the  company  started 
from  Newtown.  They  were  one  hundred  in  num- 
ber, and  drove  before  them  a  herd  of  one  hundred 
and  sixty  cattle.  When  it  was  necessary,  they  cut 
a  path  through  the  woods,  and  bridged  streams  too 
deep  for  fording  with  the  trees  they  felled  upon  the 
shore.  They  slept  by  night  in  huts  or  wagon*,  and 
varied  their  diet  with  the  strawberries  then  just  in 
season.  The  wife  of  the  minister,  Mrs.  Hooker,  was 
carried  in  a  horse  litter,  being  sick.  The  journey 

1  See  Johnston's  Connecticut 'for    was  a  democratic  secession  from 
the  claim  that  Hooker's  emigration    the  oligarchy  of  Massachusetts. 


1636.]  THE  BOY  GOVERNOR.  41 

occupied  a  fortnight.  Other  emigrants  from  Dor- 
chester and  Watertown  followed  them  during  the 
summer,  and  the  towns  of  Hartford,  Wethersfield, 
and  Windsor  were  founded. 

All  went  well  at  first,  but  the  skies  soon  became 
clouded.  Says  Winthrop  in  a  graphic  narrative : l 
"  John  Gallop,  with  one  man  more  and  two  little 
boys,  coming  from  Connecticut  in  a  bark  of  twenty 
tons,  intending  to  put  in  at  Long  Island  to  trade, 
and  being  at  the  mouth  of  the  harbor,  were  forced 
by  a  sudden  change  of  the  wind  to  bear  up  for  Block 
Island  or  Fisher's  Island,  lying  before  Naragansett, 
where  they  espied  a  small  pinnace,  which  drawing 
near  unto,  they  found  to  be  Mr.  Oldham's  (an  old 
planter  and  member  of  Watertown  congregation, 
v/ho  had  been  long  out  a-trading,  having  with  him 
only  two  English  boys,  and  two  Indians  of  Naragan- 
sett). So  they  hailed  him  but  had  no  answer ;  and 
the  deck  was  full  of  Indians  and  goods.  Where- 
upon they  suspected  they  had  killed  John  Oldham, 
and  the  rather,  because  the  Indians  let  slip  and  set 
up  sail,  being  two  miles  from  shore,  and  the  wind 
and  tide  being  off  the  shore  of  the  island,  whereby 
they  drove  towards  the  main  at  Naragansett.  Where- 
upon they  went  ahead  of  them,  and  having  but  two 
pieces  and  two  pistols,  and  nothing  but  duck-shot, 
they  bear  up  near  the  Indians,  (who  stood  ready 
armed  with  guns,  pikes,  and  swords)  and  let  fly 
among  them,  and  so  galled  them  as  they  all  gate  un- 
der hatches.  Then  they  stood  off  again,  and  return- 
ing with  a  good  gale,  they  stemmed  her  upon  the 

1  Vol.  i.  189,  etc. 


42  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY   VANE.  [1636. 

quarter  and  almost  overset  her,  which  so  frighted  the 
Indians,  as  six  of  them  leaped  overboard  and  were 
drowned.  'Yet  they  durst  not  board  her  but  stood 
off  again,  and  fitted  their  anchor,  so  as,  stemming 
her  the  second  time,  they  bored  her  bow  through 
with  their  anchor,  and  so  sticking  fast  to  her  they 
made  divers  shot  through  her,  (being  but  inch  board) 
and  so  raked  her  fore  and  aft,  as  they  must  needs 
kill  or  hurt  some  of  the  Indians  ;  but  seeing  none  of 
them  come  forth,  they  gate  loose  from  her  and  stood 
off  again.  Then  four  or  five  more  of  the  Indians 
leaped  into  the  sea,  and  were  likewise  drowned.  So 
there  being  now  but  four  left  in  her,  they  boarded 
her;  whereupon  one  Indian  came  up  and  yielded; 
him  they  bound  and  put  into  hold.  Then  another 
yielded  whom  they  bound.  But  John  Gallop  being 
well  acquainted  with  their  skill  to  untie  themselves, 
if  two  of  them  be  together,  and  having  no  place  to 
keep  them  asunder,  he  threw  them  bound  into  the 
sea ;  and  looking  about  they  found  John  Oldham  un- 
der an  old  seine,  stark  naked,  his  head  cleft  to  the 
brains,  and  his  hands  and  legs  cut  as  if  they  had 
been  cutting  them  off,  and  yet  warm.  So  they  put 
him  into  the  sea ;  but  could  not  get  to  the  other  two 
Indians,  who  were  in  a  little  room  underneath  with 
their  swords.  So  they  took  the  goods  which  were 
left,  and  the  sails,  &.c.,  and  towed  the  boat  away ; 
but  night  coming  on  and  the  wind  rising,  they  were 
forced  to  turn  her  off,  and  the  wind  carried  her  to  the 
Naragansett  shore." 

This  bold  exploit  happened  July  2Oth,  and  is  worth 
giving  in  detail,   because  it   brought  on  the   fierce 


1636.]  THE  BOY  GOVERNOR.  43 

Pequot  war,  and  also  because  it  was  the  first  naval 
engagement  in  which  Vane,  destined  to  become  one 
of  the  greatest  of  naval  administrators,  had  occasion 
to  take  any  vivid  interest.  Block  Island  was  under 
Narragansett  rule.  The  colony  demanded  satisfac- 
tion of  the  Narragansetts,  and  soon  became  embroiled 
with  their  neighbors,  the  Pequots.  These,  the  most 
ferocious  and  powerful  of  the  New  England  tribes, 
who  not  long  before  this  time  had  thrust  themselves 
in  from  the  north  to  occupy  the  greater  part  of  Con- 
necticut, had  been  for  some  time  disaffected. 

A  picturesque  element  in  the  population  of  the 
colonies  was  the  leaven  of  veteran  soldiers,  who, 
trained  among  the  hazards  of  that  stormy  century, 
had  grown  to  love  danger,  and  had  exchanged  the 
powder-smoke  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War  or  Nether- 
landish disorders  for  an  atmosphere  equally  full  of 
peril,  by  the  lair  of  wild-cat  and  savage.  The  oldest 
among  these  was  Dudley,  who  nearly  thirty  years  be- 
fore had  commanded  a  troop  in  the  wars  of  Henri 
Quatre,  and  who  was  old  enough  to  have  cheered 
over  the  defeat  of  the  Spanish  Armada.1  He  had 
hardly  strength  now  to  take  the  field,  but  was  a 
leader  in  counsel,  carrying  his  soldier's  ways  into  the 
deliberations  of  the  Magistrates.  Standish  of  Ply- 
mouth was  a  younger  man,  but  still  a  veteran.2  Pat- 
rick had  been  in  the  guard  of  Prince  Maurice  of 
Nassau,  and  was  well  able  to  discipline  the  Boston 
train-band.  Lieutenant  Lion  Gardiner  was  a  skilful 
engineer,3  and  was  to  make  good  his  reputation  at  the 

1  Palfrey,  i.  303.         2  Markham,  The  Fighting  Veres,  pp.  388,  458. 
8  Ibid.  pp.  389,  458. 


44  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1636. 

fort  at  Saybrook.  Underbill  had  bearded  Spaniard 
and  Frenchman,  and  talked  familiarly  with  Count 
Nassau.  But  chief  among  these  singed  and  sun- 
burnt veterans  was  John  Mason,  who  had  served 
under  Sir  Horace  Vere,  as  comrade  of  Fairfax  and 
Skippon,  and  with  equal  opportunities  might  perhaps 
have  become  equally  famous  with  those  great  cham- 
pions of  the  English  Commonwealth.  These  old  sol- 
diers were  now  about  to  find  their  opportunity. 

Endicott,  who  at  first  had  been  sent  with  ninety 
men  to  put  matters  into  better  condition  among  the 
Indians  about  Long  Island  Sound,  had  only  made 
things  worse.  At  Block  Island  and  on  the  mainland 
adjacent,  massacres  were  perpetrated  and  crops  and 
wigwams  burned.  The  effect  was  not  to  intimi- 
date, but  to  incense.  In  his  indiscriminate  harrying, 
Endicott  touched  the  Pequots,  and  Sassacus,  their 
energetic  chief,  sent  deputies  at  once  to  the  Narra- 
gansetts  to  induce  them  to  join  with  him  against  the 
English  in  a  war  of  extermination.  To  this  the  Nar- 
ragansetts  were  not  at  all  indisposed.  Miantonimo, 
their  chief,  had  professed  readiness  to  make  atone- 
ment for  Oldham's  murder,  and  could  not  have  felt 
otherwise  than  that  the  punishment  inflicted  tlfrough 
Endicott  upon  the  Block  Islanders  was  excessive. 
Had  an  alliance  been  formed  between  the  two  power- 
ful tribes,  the  English  could  scarcely  have  escaped 
destruction.  The  alliance  was  prevented,  and  there 
is  nothing  more  beautiful  in  New  England  history 
than  the  story  of  its  prevention.  Wrote  Roger  Wil- 
liams to  Captain  John  Mason  in  I67O,1  when  both 

1  G.  E.  Ellis,  Life  of  Mason,  in  Sparks's  Am.  Biog.  2?*  ser.  vol.  iii. 
p.  360. 


1636.]  THE  BOY  GOVERNOR.  45 

were  old  men :  "  When,  the  next  year  after  my  ban- 
ishment, the  Lord  drew  the  bow  of  the  Pequot  war 
against  the  country,  .  .  .  the  Lord  helped  me  im- 
mediately to  put  my  life  into  my  hand,  and  scarce 
acquainting  my  wife,  to  ship  myself  all  alone,  in  a 
poor  canoe,  and  to  cut  through  a  stormy  wind  with 
great  seas,  every  minute  in  hazard  of  my  life,  to  the 
sachem's  house.  Three  days  and  nights  my  business 
forced  me  to  lodge  and  mix  with  the  bloody  Pequot 
ambassadors  whose  hands  and  arms  reeked  with  the 
blood  of  my  countrymen,  murdered  and  massacred 
by  them  on  Connecticut  river,  and  from  whom  I 
could  not  but  nightly  look  for  their  bloody  knives  at 
my  own  throat  also." 

To  be  sure,  it  may  be  said  that  Roger  Williams 
was  saving  his  own  colony  here,  as  well  as  Massachu- 
setts ;  but  looking  at  the  matter  in  the  light  of  his 
after  career,  it  is  plain  that  he  showed  a  fine  magna- 
nimity as  he  sought  to  ward  off  death  from  those 
who  had  driven  him  forth.  How  extraordinary  the 
courage,  too,  which  made  it  possible  for  him,  braving 
a  stormy  sea  in  a  light  canoe,  to  trust  himself  in  the 
depths  of  the  woods  to  very  doubtful  friends,  while 
the  fiercest  savages  of  New  England,  to  some  extent 
justly  incensed,  poured  incitements  into  the  ears  of 
the  Narragansetts  !  His  heroism  prevailed.  He  had 
paid  fairly  for  his  land,  and  in  the  time  since  his 
arrival  at  the  brook-side,  under  the  pleasant  hill,  had 
done  the  Narragansetts  many  a  favor.  Miantonimo 
hearkened  to  his  words,  and  the  foiled  Pequots  with- 
drew sullenly.  While  Roger  Williams  counteracted 
their  efforts  to  the  east,  the  Mohegans  to  the  west  of 


46  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1636. 

their  territory,  led  by  their  chieftain  Uncas,  remained 
friendly  to  the  English.  The  Pequots  were  left  to 
fight  the  battle  alone. 

Early  in  July,  Vane  had  made  a  progress  through 
his  small  dominion,  the  whole  of  which,  we  may  sup- 
pose, he  up  to  this  time  had  never  seen.  Starting 
northward,  he  made  a  public  entrance  into  Salem  on 
the  9th.  In  the  absence  of  any  records,  Mr.  Upham 
indulges  his  imagination  after  a  pleasant  fashion  as  to 
the  exact  manner  in  which  the  young  Governor  may 
have  been  received.1  But  he  was  soon  at  home 
again.  John  Gallop's  recital  had  made  all  feel  that  a 
desperate  war  must  come.  On  October  21,  the  out- 
come of  Williams's  effort  was  seen,  and  it  began  to 
seem  possible  that  the  colony  might  be  preserved. 
"  Miantunnomoh,  the  sachem  of  Narragansett,  being 
sent  for  by  the  Governour,  came  to  Boston  with  two 
of  Canonicus's  sons,  and  another  sachem,  and  near 
twenty  sannups.  The  Governour  sent  twenty  mus- 
keteers to  meet  him  at  Roxbury.  He  came  to  Bos- 
ton about  noon.  The  Governour  had  called  together 
most  of  the  Magistrates  and  ministers  to  give  counte- 
nance to  our  proceedings,  and  to  advise  with  them 
about  the  terms  of  peace.  It  was  dinner-time^and 
the  sachems  and  their  council  dined  by  themselves  in 
the  same  room  where  the  Governour  dined,  and  their 
sannups  were  sent  to  the  inn.  After  dinner,  Mian- 
tunnomoh declared  what  he  had  to  say  to  us."  2  The 
Narragansetts  wished  for  peace.  Next  morning  the 
Governor  met  them  again,  and  a  treaty  was  signed, 

1  Life  of  Vane,  Sparks's  Am.  Biog.  ist  sen  vol.  iv.  p.  118. 

2  Winthrop,  i.  198. 


1636.]  THE  BOY  GOVERNOR.  47 

the  articles  of  which  were  to  be  interpreted  to  them 
by  Roger  Williams,  who  had  become  accomplished 
in  the  native  tongue.  After  dinner  they  took  their 
leave,  escorted  by  musketeers,  and  were  finally  dis- 
missed with  a  salute.  It  may  be  believed  that  the 
scene  was  full  of  interesting  traits,  as  the  young  Gov- 
ernor came  down  from  the  mansion  in  what  is  now 
Pemberton  Square,  where  he  lived  with  Cotton,  pre- 
ceded by  his  halberdiers,  while  the  savages,  in  their 
eagle's  feathers,  fringes,  and  paint,  waited  to  meet 
him. 

The  danger  from  the  savages  was  by  no  means  the 
only  one  by  which  the  colony  was  now  threatened. 
Compared  with  the  points,  dipped  in  bitterest  Calvin- 
ism, of  a  theological  controversy  of  the  iyth  century, 
the  Pequot  tomahawks  present  a  prospect  positively 
genial,  and  the  historian  turns  with  real  reluctance 
from  beneath  the  latter  to  impale  himself  upon  the 
bristling  details  of  the  great  word-war  in  which  Mrs. 
Anne  Hutchinson  was  the  central  figure. 

Mrs.  Anne  Hutchinson  had  emigrated  to  New 
England  about  two  years  before  the  period  which  we 
have  now  reached,  in  the  same  ship  which  brought 
a  copy  of  the  dangerous  commission  issued  by  the 
King  to  the  Archbishops  of  Canterbury  and  York 
and  nine  others  of  the  Privy  Council,  to  regulate  for- 
eign plantations  and  call  in  charters.  Her  home  had 
been  Alford,  near  Boston,  in  Lincolnshire,  whence 
she  had  come  accompanied  by  her  husband,  who, 
although  afterward  in  conspicuous  positions,  was 
plainly  the  weaker  member  of  the  partnership.  In 


48  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1636. 

New  England  she  took  no  satisfaction  in  any  preach- 
ing except  that  of  Cotton,  whose  parishioner  she 
had  formerly  been  in  England,  and  that  of  her 
brother-in-law,  John  Wheelwright,  a  strong,  indepen- 
dent character.  On  the  voyage,  the  shipmates  of 
Mrs.  Hutchinson  became  aware  that  by  the  Puritan 
standards  her  opinions  were  not  sound,  and  she  made 
enemies  who  afterward  caused  her  trouble.  When 
she  and  her  husband  sought  to  be  admitted  to  the 
Boston  church,  information  was  given  of  her  singu- 
larities, and  the  matter  was  delayed.  At  first,  how- 
ever, she  made  a  good  impression  upon  all ;  she 
was  full  of  neighborly  kindness,  helpful  to  people  in 
sickness,  and  acquired  influence  by  remarkable  men- 
tal ability  and  force  of  character.  Her  home  was 
where  now  stands  the  Old  Corner  Book  Store,  with 
the  house  of  Winthrop  nearly  opposite,  and  the 
house  of  Cotton  and  Vane  a  few  rods  back  to  the 
northwest. 

In  October,  1636,  Winthrop  first  makes  mention 
of  trouble  from  her.  "One  Mrs.  Hutchinson,  a 
member  of  the  church  of  Boston,  a  woman  of  ijeady 
wit  and  bold  spirit,  brought  over  with  her  two  dan- 
gerous errors :  ist,  that  the  person  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
dwells  in  a  justified  person.  2nd,  that  no  sanctifi- 
cation  can  help  to  evidence  to  us  our  justification. 
From  these  two  grew  many  branches,  as,  ist,  our 
union  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  so  as  a  Christian  remains 
dead  to  every  spiritual  action,  and  hath  no  gifts  nor 
graces  other  than  such  as  are  in  hypocrites,  nor  any 
other  sanctification  but  the  Holy  Ghost  himself." 
This  is  not  very  clear,  and  it  would  be  only  waste  of 


1636.]  THE  BOY  GOVERNOR.  49 

time  to  attempt  to  make  it  clearer.  The  points  of 
the  controversy  were  not  at  all  understood  by  many 
who  took  part,  according  to  reports  to  be  presently 
cited,  and  before  the  trouble  was  over  we  find  the 
leaders  so  explaining  their  views  that  the  difference 
was  reduced  to  a  minimum.  Nevertheless,  a  schism 
of  the  bitterest  rent  asunder  the  New  England 
Church.  On  one  side  were  Mrs.  Hutchinson,  "  the 
masterpiece  of  woman's  wit,"  Cotton  with  all  his  pres- 
tige, and  Wheelwright ;  the  greater  part  of  the  Bos- 
ton church  stood  also  with  these ;  and  here,  too, 
Vane  took  his  place,  entering  into  the  wordy  war  with 
all  possible  zest.  Few  men  of  the  English  race  have 
possessed  to  any  greater  degree  the  faculty  of  plain 
speech,  or  greater  power  in  practical  life.  With  it  all, 
however,  he  was,  after  a  strange  fashion,  a  dreamer, 
devoted,  when  he  could  find  leisure  for  it,  to  rhap- 
sody and  abstruse  discussion,  unintelligible  to  the 
men  of  his  time,  and  the  despair  of  those  of  the  pres- 
ent day  who  seek  to  follow  him.  In  the  Hutchin- 
sonian  turmoil  he  was  in  a  congenial  atmosphere,  and 
although  he  made  at  the  time  certain  most  note- 
worthy utterances  which  will  presently  be  considered, 
his  speech  in  great  part,  probably,  was  not  less  blind 
than  that  of  his  fellow-strugglers.  On  the  other  side 
in  the  controversy  stood  almost  unanimously  the 
country  churches  (the  distinction  between  town  and 
country  had  already  become  marked)  and  five  mem- 
bers of  the  Boston  church;  but  of  these  five,  two 
were  among  the  strongest  men  of  the  colony,  Win- 
throp  and  Wilson. 

The  men  of  the  Boston  church  had  been  in  the 


50  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1636. 

habit  of  meeting  to  talk  over  the  sermons  of  Wilson 
and  Cotton,  and  in  imitation  of  this  Mrs.  Hutchin- 
son  had  convened  the  women,  at  one  time  as  often 
as  twice  a  week.  Sometimes  the  number  amounted 
to  one  hundred,  among  them  the  principal  women 
of  the  colony.  Cotton  and  Wheelwright  she  com- 
mended as  being  under  a  "  covenant  of  grace ;  "  but 
with  a  boldness  which  increased  as  time  went  on,  she 
condemned  the  other  ministers  as  under  a  "cove- 
nant of  works."  As  the  schism  deepened,  conduct 
and  language  grew  violent.  When  Wilson  rose  in 
his  place  to  speak,  Mrs.  Hutchinson  and  her  follow- 
ers would  withdraw  from  the  meeting-house.  Writes 
a  fierce  anti-Hutchinsonian : l  "  Now,  oh  their  bold- 
ness, pride,  insolency,  and  alienations  from  their  old 
and  dearest  friends,  the  disturbances,  divisions,  con- 
tentions, they  raised  amongst  us,  both  in  church  and 
state,  and  in  families,  setting  division  betwixt  man 
and  wife  !  .  .  .  Now  the  faithful  ministers  of  Christ 
must  have  dung  cast  upon  their  faces,  and  be  no 
better  than  legal  preachers,  Baal's  priests,  etc.  .  .  . 
Now,  after  our  sermons  were  ended  at  our  public 
lectures,  you  might  have  seen  half  a  dozen  pistols 
discharged  at  the  face  of  the  preacher  (I  mean  so 
many  objections  made  by  the  opinionists  in  the  open 
assembly  against  the  doctrine  delivered,  if  it  suited 
not  their  new  fancies),  to  the  marvellous  weakening 
of  holy  truths  delivered.  Now  you  might  have  seen 
many  of  the  opinionists  rising  up,  and  contemptu- 

1  Rev.  Thomas  Weld,  A  Short  and  Libertines,  that  infected  the 
Story  of  the  Rise,  Reign,  and  Ruin  Churches  of  New  England.  Pref- 
of  the  Anti-nomians,  Familists,  ace. 


1636.]  THE  BOY  GOVERNOR.  51 

ously  turning  their  backs  upon  the  faithful  pastor  of 
that  church,  and  going  forth  from  the  assembly  when 
he  began  to  pray  or  preach." 

Winthrop  is  so  fair-minded  that  all  historians  have 
put  perfect  faith  in  the  records  of  his  diary,  whether 
he  speaks  of  friend  or  foe.  Although  he  was  a 
party  in  this  strife,  we  may  repose  in  his  candor. 
He  does  his  best  to  tell  what  Vane  and  what  he 
himself  believed.1  "  The  Governor  Mr.  Vane,  a  wise 
and  godly  gentleman,  held,  with  Mr.  Cotton  and 
many  others,  the  indwelling  of  the  person  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  in  a  believer,  and  went  so  far  beyond 
the  rest,  as  to  maintain  a  personal  union  with  the 
Holy  Ghost ;  but  the  deputy  [Winthrop  himself], 
with  the  pastor  and  divers  others,  denied  both ;  and 
the  question  proceeded  so  far  by  disputation  (in  writ- 
ing, for  the  peace'  sake  of  the  church,  which  all  were 
tender  of)  as  at  length  they  could  not  find  the  person 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  scripture,  nor  in  the  primitive 
churches  three  hundred  vears  after  Christ.  So  that 

•• 

all  agreeing  in  the  chief  matter  of  substance,  viz., 
that  the  Holy  Ghost  is  God,  and  that  he  doth  dwell 
in  the  believers  (as  the  Father  and  Son  both  are  said 
also  to  do),  but  whether  by  his  gifts  and  power  only, 
or  by  any  other  manner  of  presence,  seeing  the  scrip- 
ture doth  not  declare  it,  —  it  was  earnestly  desired 
that  the  word  person  might  be  foreborne,  being  a 
term  of  human  invention,  and  tending  to  doubtful 
disputance  in  this  case." 

Of  far  greater  interest  than  this  dreary  controversy 
is  the  minute  in  the  colonial  records,2  October  28, 

1  Winthrop,  i.  206,  207.  2  Records  of  Mass.  Bay,  i.  183. 


52  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1636. 

1636,  of  the  gift  by  the  General  Court,  under  the 
presidency  of  Henry  Vane,  of  four  hundred  pounds 
for  the  establishment  of  Harvard  College ;  the  first 
time,  according  to  Edward  Everett,  that  "  the  peo- 
ple, by  their  representatives,  ever  gave  their  own 
money  to  found  a  place  of  education." 

During  the  autumn  weeks,  while  the  strength  of 
the  terrible  Pequots  was  gathering  in  the  woods 
about,  such  discord  was  beginning  to  reign  in  the 
colony,  and  the  Governor  of  twenty-four  may  well 
have  believed  that  he  had  undertaken  more  than  he 
could  manage.  The  General  Court  having  been 
summoned,  he  begged  leave  to  resign  his  office,  be- 
cause "  he  had  letters  from  his  friends  in  England 
which  necessarily  required  his  presence  there."  His 
popularity  was  still  great,  and  as  the  people  urged 
him  to  remain,  "  the  Governor  brake  forth  into  tears, 
and  professed  that  howsoever  the  causes  propounded 
for  his  departure  were  such  as  did  concern  the  utter 
ruin  of  his  outward  estate,  yet  he  would,  rather  have 
hazarded  all  than  have  gone  from  them  at  this  time, 
if  something  else  had  not  pressed  him  more ;  viz., 
the  inevitable  danger  of  God's  judgments  to  come 
upon  us  for  these  differences  and  dissensions  which 
he  saw  amongst  us,  and  the  scandalous  imputations 
brought  upon  himself  as  if  he  should  be  the  cause 
of  all,  and  therefore  he  thought  it  best  for  him  to 
give  place  for  a  time."1  The  Governor  had  need 
to  be  sorely  troubled,  and  his  tears  were  natural 
enough  in  one  so"  young.  The  Court  refused  con- 
sent to  his  going  on  those  grounds  ;  whereupon  Vane, 

1  Palfrey,  i.  548.  3  Winthrop,  i.  207,  208. 


1636.]  THE  BOY  GOVERNOR.  53 

showing  some  vacillation,  recalled  his  plea,  declaring 
"  that  the  reasons  concerning  his  own  estate  were 
sufficient  for  his  departure,"  and  that  as  for  the  other 
plea,  "  it  had  slipped  him  out  of  his  passion,  and  not 
out  of  judgment."  Upon  this  the  Court  consented 
to  his  departure.  The  Boston  church,  however,  re- 
sisted his  going  so  strongly  that  he  was  prevailed 
upon  to  stay. 

Henceforth  through  his  American  life  there  was 
nothing  but  trouble  for  Vane,  and  he  met  it  with 
resolution.  At  a  meeting  of  Magistrates  and  elders, 
convened  to  reconcile,  if  possible,  jarring  parties,  he 
was  taken  sharply  to  task.  At  Vane's  first  coming 
we  have  seen  him  joined  with  Hugh  Peters  in  calling 
Winthrop  to  account  in  a  somewhat  presumptuous 
way.  Peters  had  become  a  great  figure  in  the  colony, 
commending  himself  perhaps  as  much  by  a  certain 
practical  good  sense  which  he  showed  as  regards  the 
material  development  of  the  colony  as  by  his  spirit- 
ual ministrations.  He  was  now  the  spokesman  of 
the  ministers,  who,  in  the  midst  of  the  "  patheticall 
passages  "  connected  with  the  young  man's  desire  to 
go  home,  were  very  plain  in  their  fault-finding.  One 
of  the  Magistrates  declaring  that  he  would  utter 
freely  what  he  held  different  from  others,1  "  the  Gov- 
ernor said  that  he  would  be  content  to  do  the  like, 
but  that  he  understood  that  the  ministers  were  about 
it  in  a  church  way,  &c.,  which  he  spoke  upon  this 
occasion :  the  ministers  had  met  a  little  before,  and 
had  drawn  into  heads  all  the  points  wherein  they 
suspected  Mr.  Cotton  did  differ  from  them,  and  had 

1  Winthrop,  i.  209,  etc. 


54  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1636. 

propounded  them  to  him,  and  pressed  him  to  a  direct 
answer,  affirmative  or  negative  to  every  one  ;  which 
he  had  promised  and  taken  time  for.  This  meeting 
being  spoken  of  in  the  Court  the  day  before,  the  Gov- 
ernor took  great  offence  at  it  as  being  without  his 
privity  &c.,  which  this  day  Mr.  Peters  told  him 
as  plainly  of  (with  all  reverence),  and  how  it  had  sad- 
ded  the  ministers'  spirits  that  he  should  be  jealous  of 
their  meetings,  or  seem  to  restrain  their  liberty,  &c. 
The  Governor  excused  his  speech  as  sudden  and 
upon  a  mistake.  Mr.  Peters  told  him  also,  that  be- 
fore he  came,  within  less  than  two  years  since,  the 
churches  were  in  peace,  &c.  The  Governor  an- 
swered, that  the  light  of  the  gospel  brings  a  sword, 
and  the  children  of  the  bond-woman  would  persecute 
those  of  the  free-woman.  Mr.  Peters  also  besought 
him  humbly  to  consider  his  youth  and  short  experi- 
ence in  the  things  of  God,  and  to  beware  of  peremp- 
tory conclusions,  which  he  perceived  him  to  be  very 
apt  unto.  He  declared  further  that  he  Mad  observed, 
both  in  the  Low  Countries  and  here,  three  principal 
causes  of  new  opinions  and  divisions  thereupon : 
i.  Pride,  new  notions  lift  up  the  mind,  &c.  2.  Idle- 
ness. 3.  [a  blank.]  " 

Winthrop  may  be  still  further  quoted  to  show  what 
straw  the  generation  was  threshing,  and  in  what  con- 
fusion of  mind  the  disputants  themselves  were  :  "  Mr. 
Wilson  made  a  very  sad  speech  of  the  condition  of 
the  churches.  .  .  .  Mr.  Cotton  had  laid  down  this 
ground,  that  evident  sanctification  was  an  evidence 
of  justification,  and  thereupon  had  taught  that  in 
cases  of  spiritual  desertion,  true  desires  of  sanctifica- 


1637.]  THE  BOY  GOVERNOR.  55 

tion  was  found  to  be  sanctification ;  and  further,  if  a 
man  were  laid  so  flat  upon  the  ground  as  he  could 
see  no  desires,  &c.,  but  only,  as  a  bruised  reed  did 
wait  at  the  feet  of  Christ,  yet  here  was  matter  of 
comfort  for  this,  as  found  to  be  true."  Wilson's  crit- 
icisms were  taken  very  ill  by  the  Boston  church  in 
which  "  the  Governour  pressed  it  violently  against 
him,  and  [as  did]  also  all  the  congregation,  except 
the  deputy  [Winthrop  himself]  and  one  or  two  more, 
and  many  of  them  with  much  bitterness  and  re- 
proaches. ...  It  was  strange  to  see  how  the  com- 
mon people  were  led,  by  example,  to  condemn  him  in 
that  which  divers  of  them  did  not  understand,  nor  the 
rule  which  he  was  supposed  to  have  broken." 

In  March,  1637,  the  ministers  assembled  at  Boston 
determined  to  bring  things  to  some  issue.  How 
could  the  world  be  more  out  of  joint !  "  A  general 
fast  was  kept  in  all  the  churches.  The  occasion  was 
the  miserable  estate  of  the  churches  in  Germany  ;  the 
calamities  upon  our  native  country,  the  Bishops  mak- 
ing havoc  in  the  churches,  putting  down  the  faithful 
ministers  and  advancing  papist  ceremonies  and  doc- 
trines, the  plague  raging  exceedingly,  and  famine  and 
sword  threatening  them ;  the  dangers  of  those  at  Con- 
necticut, and  of  ourselves  also,  by  the  Indians ;  and 
the  dissensions  in  our  churches."  l  As  regards  the 
Indian  war,  terrible  stones  filled  the  ears  of  the  set- 
tlers. The  Mohegans  were  their  friends  and  to 
some  extent  softened  by  civilizing  influences,  yet  if 
the  Mohegans  took  a  prisoner,  forthwith  he  was  put 
to  torture.  Strips  of  flesh  were  torn  from  him  while 

1  Winthrop,  i.  213. 


56  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY   VANE.  [1637. 

he  lived  and  devoured  by  his  captors  before  his  eyes, 
until  Englishmen  present  held  their  pistols  to  the 
heads  of  the  victims  and  out  of  mercy  put  them  out 
of  misery.  From  such  events  in  their  own  camps 
the  settlers  drew  rueful  conclusions  as  to  what  the 
English  underwent  who  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
Pequots.  The  contortions,  groans,  and  devout  ejac- 
ulations of  their  brethren  in  their  death-struggles 
were  caught  with  diabolical  mimicry  by  the  Pequots, 
who  then  from  the  opposite  shore  of  some  deep 
stream,  or  some  thicket  or  hill-brow  not  easily 
reached,  used  them  as  taunts  and  jibes  against  their 
foes.  In  the  month  of  the  fast,  Lion  Gardiner,  the 
stout  soldier  who  held  the  fort  at  Saybrook,  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Connecticut,  in  the  midst  of  the  dan- 
ger, sent  to  Vane  a  horribly  suggestive  token  of  the 
fate  that  might  overtake  them  all.  It  was  the  rib  of 
a  slain  soldier  pierced  through  by  a  J^equot  arrow. 
The  idea,  it  seems,  had  prevailed  that  a  savage  arrow 
had  no  force.1 

Nor  were  the  internal  controversies  and  the  Indian 
war  the  only  occasions  for  anxiety.  The  danger  of 
an  application  of  "  Thorough  "  by  Laud  and  Strafford 
became  more  and  more  imminent,  as  the  story  of  the 
dissensions  tended  to  create  the  impression  in  Eng- 
land that  the  colony  was  falling  to  pieces.  An  oc- 
currence took  place  upon  the  occasion  of  the  sailing 
of  a  ship  for  England  which  would  be  amusing  were 
it  not  so  pathetic  and  pitiable.  Cotton  and  Wilson, 
who  were  fighting  like  deadly  enemies  at  the  heads 
of  the  two  factions,  fearing  that  news  would  be  car. 

1  G.  E.  Ellis,  Life  of  Mason,  p.  362. 


1637.]  THE  BOY  GOVERNOR.  57 

ried  which  would  result  in  the  dreaded  interference 
from  home,  laid  aside  for  the  moment  their  hostility, 
to  whitewash,  as  far  as  possible,  the  melancholy  situa- 
tion. Cotton  spoke  to  the  ship's  company *  "  about 
the  differences,  and  willed  them  to  tell  our  country- 
men that  all  the  strife  amongst  us  was  about  magni- 
fying the  grace  of  God ;  one  party  seeking  to  advance 
the  grace  of  God  within  us,  and  the  other  to  advance 
the  grace  of  God  towards  us  (meaning  by  the  one 
justification,  and  by  the  other  sanctification),  and  so 
bade  them  tell  them,  that  if  there  were  any  among 
them  that  would  strive  for  grace,  they  should  come 
hither."  Wilson  followed  Cotton  in  an  address  "  by 
occasion  whereof  no  man  could  tell  (except  some  few 
who  knew  the  bottom  of  the  matter)  where  any  dif- 
ference was." 

Though  when  need  was,  the  fighters  could  make 
their  mountains  thus  seem  like  mole-hills,  the  opera- 
tion did  not  bring  them  to  their  senses.  "  Every  oc- 
casion increased  the  contention,  and  caused  great 
alienation  of  minds.  ...  It  began  to  be  as  common 
here  to  distinguish  between  men,  by  being  under  a 
covenant  of  grace  or  a  covenant  of  works,  as  in  other 
countries  between  Protestants  and  Papists."2  The 
General  Court  at  last,  where  the  anti-Hutchinso- 
nians  were  in  a  majority,  proceeded  to  extremities. 
The  ministers  said  "  that  in  all  such  heresies  or 
errors  of  any  church-members  as  are  manifest  and 
dangerous  to  the  state,  the  court  may  proceed  with- 
out tarrying  for  the  church."  In  spite  of  the  Boston 
church,  therefore,  one  Greensmith,  a  zealous  Hutch- 

1  Winthrop,  i.  213.  2  Ibid.  i.  213. 


58  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1637. 

insonian,  was  "  committed  to  the  marshal,"  and 
Wheelwright  was  censured.  Against  this  Vane  and 
a  few  deputies  protested.  His  prestige,  however,  was 
waning  fast.  To  show  its  displeasure  with  Boston, 
the  Court  concluded  that  its  meetings  should  be  held 
elsewhere,  and  it  was  moved  that  its  next  session,  in 
May,  when  the  important  business  of  the  choice  of  a 
new  Governor  was  to  be  attended  to,  should  take 
place  at  Newtown.  Vane  as  presiding  officer  refused 
to  put  the  matter  to  vote.  Winthrop,  Deputy  Gov- 
ernor, also  refused,  as  a  Boston  man,  though  he  and 
Vane  were  now  at  sword's  points.  Endicott  put  the 
question,  and  it  was  carried. 

The  Court  met,  May  1 7,  at  Newtown,  both  parties 
incensed  to  such  a  degree  that  bloodshed  and  civil 
war  were  scarcely  avoided.  "  So  soon  as  the  Court 
was  set,  about  one  of  the  clock,  a  petition  was  pre- 
ferred by  those  of  Boston."  Vane  declared  that  it 
should  be  read  at  once,  which  Winthrop  opposed  on 
the  ground  that  it  was  out  of  order  until  the  first 
business  of  the  Court  had  been  attended  to,  the  mat- 
ter of  the  election.  "  Mr.  Wilson,  the  minister,  in  his 
zeal,  got  upon  the  bough  of  a  tree,  and  there  made  a 
speech  advising  the  people  to  look  to  their  charter, 
and  to  consider  the  present  work  of  the  day,  which 
was  designed  for  the  choosing,  &c.  His  speech  was 
well  received  by  the  people,  who  presently  called  out, 
'  Election!  Election  ! '  which  turned  the  scale."  l  Vane 
shouted  his  protest,  but  the  election  was  held  in  spite 
of  him,  Winthrop  being  made  Governor  and  Dudley 

1  MS.  Life  of  Wilson,  quoted  by  Hutchinson,  Hist,  of  Mass.  Bay, 
i.  62. 


1 637-]  THE  BOY  GOVERNOR.  59 

Deputy  Governor,  while  Vane  and  his  friends  were 
left  out  in  the  cold.  "  There  was  great  danger  of  a 
tumult  that  day,  for  those  of  that  side  grew  into  fierce 
speeches,  and  some  laid  hands  on  others ;  but  seeing 
themselves  too  weak,  they  grew  quiet.  They  expected 
a  great  advantage  that  day,  because  the  remote  towns 
were  allowed  to  come  in  by  proxy ;  but  it  fell  out  that 
there  were  enough  besides.  .  .  .  Boston,  having  de- 
ferred to  choose  deputies  till  the  election  was  passed, 
went  home  that  night,  and  the  next  morning  they 
sent  Mr.  Vane,  the  late  Governor,  and  Mr.  Codding- 
ton,  Mr.  Dummer,  and  Mr.  Hoffe  for  their  deputies, 
but  the  Court,  being  grieved  at  it,  found  a  means  to 
send  them  home  again,  for  that  two  of  the  freemen 
of  Boston  had  not  notice  of  the  election.  So  they 
all  went  home,  and  the  next  morning  they  returned 
the  same  gentlemen  again,  upon  a  new  choice ;  and 
the  Court  not  finding  how  they  might  reject  them, 
they  were  admitted.  .  .  .  Upon  the  election  of  the 
new  Governour,  the  sergeants,  who  had  attended  the 
old  Governour  to  the  Court  (being  all  Boston  men, 
where  the  new  Governour  also  dwelt),  laid  down  their 
halberds  and  went  home ;  and  whereas  they  had  been 
wont  to  attend  the  former  Governour  to  and  fro  from 
the  meetings  on  the  Lord's  days,  they  gave  over  now, 
so  as  the  new  Governour  was  fain  to  use  his  own  ser- 
vants to  carry  two  halberds  before  him ;  whereas  the 
former  Governour  had  never  less  than  four." 

The  wrath  of  the  moment  was  slow  in  cooling. 
"  Mr.  Vane  professed  himself  ready  to  serve  the  cause 
of  God  in  the  meanest  capacity.  He  was,  notwith- 

1  Winthrop,  i.  220. 


60  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1637. 

standing,  much  mortified  and  discovered  his  resent- 
ment. Although  he  had  sat  at  church  among  the 
magistrates  from  his  first  arrival,  yet  he  and  those 
who  had  been  left  out  with  him  placed  themselves 
with  the  deacons,  and  when  he  was  invited  by  the 
Governour  to  return  to  his  place,  he  refused  it." 1 
Lord  Ley,  son  and  heir  of  the  Earl  of  Marlborough, 
a  boy  in  his  teens,  was  at  this  time  in  the  colony. 
Vane  being  invited  by  Winthrop  to  meet  Lord  Ley 
at  dinner  at  his  house,  he  "  not  only  refused  to  come, 
alleging  by  letter  that  his  conscience  withheld  him, 
but  also  at  the  same  hour  he  went  over  to  Nettle's 
Island  to  dine  with  Mr.  Maverick  [a  kind  of  Ishmael- 
ite  in  the  settlement],  and  carried  the  Lord  Ley  with 
him."2 

As  far  as  young  Harry  Vane  is  concerned,  no 
episode  of  this  Antinomian  controversy,  which  para- 
lyzed in  such  a  perilous  way  the  heart  of  New  Eng- 
land at  the  moment  when  the  most  appalling  dangers 
were  gathering  about  her,  is  so  memorable  as  his  writ- 
ten controversy  with  the  noble-minded  and  hearted 
John  Winthrop,  the  father  of  the  country ;  and  for  this 
we  must  take  a  separate  chapter. 

1  Hutchinson,  i.  63.  3  Winthrop,  i.  232. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  CONTROVERSY  WITH  WINTHROP. 

SAYS  Winthrop :  "  Another  occasion  of  the  discon- 
tent of  that  party  was  an  order  which  the  Court  had 
made,  to  keep  out  all  such  persons  as  might  be  dan- 
gerous to  the  Commonwealth,  by  imposing  a  penalty 
upon  all  such  as  should  retain  any,  &c.,  above  three 
weeks,  which  should  not  be  allowed  by  some  of  the 
magistrates ;  for  it  was  very  probable  that  they  ex- 
pected many  of  their  opinion  to  come  out  from 
England." l  Cotton  had  felt  so  outraged  at  this  order 
that  he  at  one  time  made  up  his  mind  to  remove 
out  of  the  jurisdiction.  Winthrop  published  a  de- 
fence of  the  order,  to  which  Vane  straightway  replied 
at  length  in  "  A  Brief  answer  to  a  certain  Declaration 
made  of  the  Intent  and  Equity  of  the  Order  of  Court, 
that  none  should  be  received  to  inhabit  within  this 
jurisdiction  but  such  as  should  be  allowed  by  some 
of  the  Magistrates."2  Vane's  work  deserves  careful 
attention  as  containing  the  first  adumbration  of  a 
principle  for  which  he  was  afterward  to  struggle  most 
manfully  upon  a  far  larger  stage,  —  the  idea  of 
toleration. 

1  Winthrop,  i.  224.  relative  to  the  History  of  Massa- 

2  A  Collection  of  Original  Papers    chusetts  Bay,  made  by  Hutchinson. 


62  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1637. 

Winthrop  begins  by  defining  "  a  commonweal  or 
body  politic ''  as  "  the  consent  of  a  certain  company 
of  people  to  cohabit  together  under  one  government 
for  their  mutual  safety  and  welfare."  To  this  Vane 
objects,  as  too  unqualified :  "  There  must  be  put  in 
such  a  consent  as  is  according  to  God ;  a  subjecting 
to  such  a  government  as  is  according  unto  Christ. 
And  if  you  will  define  a  corporation  incorporated  by 
virtue  of  the  grant  of  our  Sovereign,  it  must  be  such  a 
consent  as  the  grant  requires  and  permits,  and  in  that 
manner  and  form  as  it  prescribes,  or  else  it  will  be 
defective."  The  Commonwealth  you  describe,  con- 
tinues Vane,  "  may  be  a  company  of  Turkish  pirates 
as  well  as  Christian  professors,  unless  the  consent 
and  government  be  better  limited  than  it  is  in  this 
definition  ;  for  sure  it  is,  all  Pagans  and  Infidels,  even 
the  Indians  here  amongst  us,  may  come  within  this 
compass.  And  is  this  such  a  body  politic  as  ours, 
as  you  say  ?  God  forbid  !  Our  Commonwealth,  we 
fear,  would  be  twice  miserable,  if  Christ  and  King 
should  be  shut  out  so.  Reasons  taken  from  the 
nature  of  a  Commonwealth  not  founded  upon  Christ, 
nor  by  his  Majesty's  charter,  must  needs  fall  to  the 
ground." 

The  main  interest  of  the  passage  just  quoted  lies 
in  the  fact  that  its  tone  is  so  thoroughly  loyal  to  the 
King.  Vane,  before  many  years,  was  to  be  a  leader 
among  the  most  uncompromising  opponents  of  mo- 
narchical authority.  At  present  he  takes  pains  to 
emphasize  his  deference  to  royalty,  in  the  midst  of 
men  disposed  to  deal  very  cavalierly  with  the  claims 
of  the  sovereign,  and  the  limitations  of  the  charter 


1637-]      THE   CONTROVERSY  WITH   WINTHROP.  63 

granted  by  him.  Vane  quotes  Winthrop  again : 
"  The  first  reason  of  the  equity  of  the  order  is  this, 
1  If  we  be  a  corporation,  established  by  free  consent, 
if  the  place  of  our  habitation  be  our  own,  then  no 
man  hath  right  to  come  unto  us  without  our  con- 
sent.' 

"  Ans.  We  do  not  know  how  we  that  stand  a  cor- 
poration, by  virtue  of  the  King's  charter,  can  thus 
argue,  yet  to  avoid  dispute,  suppose  the  antecedent 
should  be  granted,  the  consequence  doth  not  follow. 
This  is  all  that  can  be  inferred,  that  our  consent 
regulated  by  the  Word,  and  suitable  to  our  patent 
ought  to  be  required,  not  this  vast  and  illimited  con- 
sent here  spoken  of;  our  consent  is  not  our  own 
when  rightly  limited.  I  Cor.  vi.  19,  20." 

Vane  continues,  quoting  Winthrop: 

"  The  third  reason  is  thus  framed :  '  If  we  are 
to  keep  off  whatsoever  appears  to  tend  to  our  ruin 
and  damage,  then  may  we  lawfully  refuse  to  receive 
such  whose  dispositions  suit  not  with  ours,  and 
whose  society  we  know  will  be  hurtful  unto  us,  and 
therefore  it  is  lawful  to  take  knowledge  of  men  before 
we  do  receive  them.' 

"  Ans.  This  kind  of  reasoning  is  very  confused 
and  fallacious,  for  the  question  here  is  not  only 
changed,  but  there  is  this  further  deceit  of  wrapping 
up  many  questions  in  one,  and  besides ;  if  it  were 
put  into  a  right  form,  the  assumption  would  be  false. 
The  question  is  not,  as  was  said  before,  whether 
knowledge  may  not  be  taken  of  men  before  they 
be  received,  nor  whether  magistrates  may  refuse  such 
as  suit  not  with  their  dispositions,  or  such  whose 


64  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1637. 

society  they  know  will  be  hurtful  to  them  (though  the 
second  of  these  is  not,  nor  cannot  be  proved),  but 
whether  persons  may  be  rejected  or  admitted  upon 
the  illimited  consent  or  dissent  of  magistrates.  The 
assumption  also  would  be  false ;  for  men  are  not  to 
keep  off  whatsoever  appears  to  tend  to  their  ruin,  but 
what  really  doth  so." 

Vane  proceeds  in  Puritan  fashion  to  show  that 
there  should  be  no  exclusions,  because  it  is  quite 
possible  that  great  benefactors  may,  to  our  short 
sight,  appear  to  be  harmful  people. 

"  Elijah  appeared  to  Ahab,  and  no  doubt  to  his 
counsel  of  state,  a  troubler  of  the  commonwealth,  one 
that  brought  three  years  famine,  enough  to  ruin  the 
whole  state  ;  yet  the  Jewish  magistrates  ought  not  to 
have  rejected  him  and  all  those  of  his  frame  and  judg- 
ment because  thus  it  appeared  ;  for  in  truth  Elijah  was 
the  horseman  of  Israel  and  the  chariots  thereof.  It 
appeared  also  to  the  chief  priests  and  Pharisees  that 
if  our  blessed  Saviour  were  let  alone,  it  would  tend  to 
their  ruin  (John  xi.  47,  48),  and  therefore  used  means 
to  keep  it  off  by  rejecting  Christ  and  his  gospel, 
and  yet  we  hope  you  will  not  say  they  were  bound 
to  do  so.  Lastly,  it  appears  to  the  natives  here  (who 
by  your  definition  are  complete  commonwealths  in 
themselves)  that  the  cohabitation  of  the  English  with 
them  tends  to  their  utter  ruin  ;  yet  we  believe  you  will 
not  say  they  may  lawfully  keep  us  out  upon  that 
ground,  for  our  cohabitation  with  them .  may  tend  to 
their  conversion,  and  so  to  their  eternal  salvation,  and 
then  they  should  do  most  desperately  and  sinfully. 
Let  us  then  do  unto  our  brethren  at  least  as  we  would 


1 637.]      THE   CONTROVERSY  WITH   WINTHROP.  65 

desire  to  be  done  unto  by  barbarians  ;  which  is  not 
to  be  rejected  because  we  suit  not  with  the  disposi- 
tion of  their  sachem,  nor  because  by  our  coming  God 
takes  them  away  and  troubles  them,  and  so  to  their 
appearance  we  ruin  them." 

Taking  up  Winthrop's  declaration,  that  "  profane 
persons  may  be  less  dangerous  than  such  as  are  re- 
ligious, of  large  parts,  confirmed  in  some  erroneous 
way,"  Vane  declares  that  here  "  you  need  not  much 
confutation  ;  such  shall  be  blessings  wheresoever  they 
come.  .  .  .  As  for  Scribes  and  Pharisees,  we  will  not 
plead  for  them  ;  let  them  do  it  who  walk  in  their 
way ;  nor  for  such  as  are  confirmed  in  any  way  of 
error  though  all  such  are  not  to  be  denied  cohabita- 
tion, but  are  to  be  pitied  and  reformed,  Jude,  22,  23." 
Here  we  have  a  shadowing  forth  of  the  idea  that  tol- 
eration must  be  shown  to  those  whom  we  think  to  be 
in  error.  Vane  goes  on,  "  Ishmael  shall  dwell  in  the 
presence  of  his  brethren.  Gen.  xvi.  12."  We  must 
bear  with  those  who  are  different  from  us  is  his  evi- 
dent thought.  He  judges  the  law  to  be  "  most  wicked 
and  sinfull  — 

"  i.  Because  the  law  doth  leave  these  weighty  mat- 
ters of  the  commonwealth,  of  receiving  or  rejecting 
such  as  come  over,  to  the  approbation  of  magistrates 
and  suspends  these  things  upon  the  judgment  of 
man,  whereas  the  judgment  is  God's.  Deut.  ix.  17. 
This  is  made  a  groundwork  of  gross  popery.  Priests 
and  magistrates  are  to  judge,  but  it  must  be  accord- 
ing to  the  law  of  God.  Deut.  xvii.  9,  10,  1 1.  That 
law  which  gives  that  without  limitation  to  man,  which 
is  proper  to  God,  cannot  be  just. 


66  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1637. 

"  2.  Because  here  is  liberty  given  by  this  law  to 
expell  and  reject  those  which  are  most  eminent  Chris- 
tians, if  they  suit  not  with  the  disposition  of  the  mag- 
istrates ;  whereby  it  will  come  to  pass,  that  Christ  and 
his  members  will  find  worse  entertainment  among  us 
than  the  Israelites  and  Isaac  did  amongst  the  Philis- 
tines, than  Jacob  amongst  the  Shechemites,  yea,  even 
than  Lot  among  the  Sodomites.  These  all  gave 
leave  to  God's  people  to  sit  down  amongst  them, 
though  they  could  not  claim  such  rights  as  the  King's 
subjects  may.  Now  that  law,  the  execution  wherof 
may  make  us  more  cruel  and  tyrannical  over  God's 
children  than  Pagans,  yea  than  Sodomites,  must 
needs  be  most  wicked  and  sinfull. 

"  3.  This  law  doth  cross  many  laws  of  Christ. 
Christ  would  have  us  render  untd>  Ceasar  the  things 
that  are  Ceasar's.  Matt.  xxii.  21.  But  this  law  will 
not  give  unto  the  King's  majesty  his  right  of  planting 
some  of  his  subjects  amongst  us,  except  they  please 
them.  Christ  bids  us  not  to  forget  to  entertain 
strangers.  Heb.  xiii.  2.  But  here  by  this  law  we 
must  not  entertain,  for  any  continuance  of  time,  such 
stranger  as  the  magistrates  like  not,  though  they  be 
never  so  gracious." 

Hereafter,  the  rise  of  the  doctrine  of  Toleration 
will  be  considered  in  some  detail,  and  the  position 
of  Vane  with  regard  to  it  estimated.  Roger  Wil- 
liams had  already  enunciated  and  practised  it,  though 
his  memorable  exposition  of  it  in  the  "Bloudy  Ten- 
ent  of  Persecution  "  appeared  six  years  later  than 
the  date  we  have  reached.  Vane  and  Williams  no 
doubt  recognized  one  another  as  kindred  spirits  dur- 


1 637.]      THE   CONTROVERSY  WITH   WINTHROP.  6f 

ing  these  disturbed  days,  while  working  together  to 
fix  the  English  foothold  which  the  Pequots  and  the 
interior  dissensions  were  making  so  uncertain.   Wrote 
Roger  Williams  in  after  years,  referring  to  this  time 
and  to  his  friend's  later  efforts  in  behalf  of  the  Rhode 
Island  charter:1  "It  was   not  price  or  money  that 
could  have  purchased  Rhode  Island,  but  it  was  ob- 
tained by  love  —  that  love  and  favor  which  that  hon- 
ored gentleman  Sir  H.  Vane  and  myself  had  with 
the   great   sachem,    Miantonimo,    about   the    league 
which  I  procured  between  the  Massachusetts  English 
and  the  Narragansetts  in  the  Pequot  war.     This  I 
mention  as  the  truly  noble   Sir  H.  Vane  had  been  so 
good  an  instrument  in  the  hand  of  God  for  procur- 
ing this  island  from  the  barbarians,  as  also  for  pro- 
curing and   confirming   the  charter  that  it  may  be 
recorded  with  all  thankfulness."    Each,  however,  was 
probably  quite  independent  of  the  other  in  coming 
out  upon  the  free  ground.    The  new  ideas  were  close 
at  hand ;  before  many  years  they  were  to  find  em- 
phatic expression,  and  an  effort  was  to  be  made  to 
put  them  in  practice ;  the  approaching  sunrise  was 
already  touching  the  higher  and  nobler  minds  as  it 
slowly  drew  near. 

But  what,  meantime,  of  the  Indian  war?  While 
Vane  sat  in  the  chair  of  the  Governor,  as  we  have 
seen,  Endicott,  sent  to  retaliate  for  the  massacre  of 
Oldham,  had  done  more  harm  than  good.  By  God's 
mercy  the  Narragansetts  and  Mohegans  had  been 
held  in  firm  friendship  to  the  English ;  but  through 

1  Mass.  Hist.  Coll.  x.  p.  20,  note. 


68  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1637. 

the  winter  and  spring  the  Pequots  had  raged  around 
the  Connecticut  settlements  at  Hartford  and  at  the 
river's  mouth,  containing  not  more  than  two  hundred 
and  fifty  fighting-men,  all  told,  scarifying  and  worse,  all 
those  upon  whom  they  could  lay  their  hands.  While 
Vane  presided,  the  General  Court  of  Massachusetts 
Bay  agreed  to  raise  for  the  peril  one  hundred  and 
forty  men  and  six  hundred  pounds.  Plymouth  agreed 
to  send  forty  men,  while  Connecticut,  as  the  colony 
in  especial  danger,  sent  into  the  field  nearly  half  of 
those  capable  of  bearing  arms.  Connecticut,  more- 
over, furnished  as  commander-in-chief  Captain  John 
Mason,  who  proceeded  to  show  such  prowess,  that 
his  old  comrade-in-arms,  Fairfax,  besought  him  after- 
wards, during  the  Civil  War,  to  come  over  and  fight 
against  the  King.  In  the  spring  of  1637  he  made  a 
junction  with  twenty  of  the  Massachusetts  men  un- 
der Captain  Underhill,  a  partisan  of  Mrs.  Hutchin- 
son,  one  of  the  queerest  fish  that  swam  in  those 
troubled  waters,  "  a  sort  of  Friar  Tuck,"  says  Palfrey, 
"  devotee,  bravo,  libertine,  and  buffoon  in  equal 
parts."  l  To  his  little  army  of  scarcely  more  than  a 
hundred  Englishmen  Mason  added  seventy  Indian 
auxiliaries,  frightened  out  of  all  efficiency  by  the 
deeds  of  the  Pequots,  and  took  the  field  at  once, 
without  waiting  for  the  Plymouth  men  or  the  main 
part  of  the  Massachusetts  contingent. 

What  tactics  the  Puritans  should  employ  in  the 
campaign  was  decided  in  a  curious  but  characteristic 
fashion.  Mason  had  been  ordered  by  the  Connecti- 
cut Court  to  attack  Sassacus  from  the  west,  the  fear 

1  Hist,  of  New  Eng.,  i.  459. 


1 637-]      THE   CONTROVERSY  WITH   WINTHROP.  69 

being  great  that  if  the  Indians  were  allowed  to  get 
between  the  army  and  Hooker's  settlement,  the  latter 
in  the  absence  of  so  many  of  the  men  would  be  over- 
whelmed at  once.  Mason,  however,  with  a  soldier's 
eye,  saw  that  the  enemy  were  more  vulnerable  from 
the  east,  and,  like  McClellan  in  1862,  was  anxious  to 
strike  there,  even  though  he  left  his  Washington  un- 
covered. His  officers  would  not  bear  him  out  in  de- 
parting from  his  orders ;  but,  it  being  resolved  to  sub- 
mit the  matter  to  divine  direction,  Stone,  the  stout 
chaplain,  a  figure  scarcely  less  important  in  the  eyes 
of  the  soldiers  than  the  commander,  spent  the  night 
in  prayer,  announcing  in  the  morning  as  if  by  revela- 
tion from  the  Lord,  that  Mason's  plan  must  be  fol- 
lowed. This  was  in  the  middle  of  May,  at  the  very 
time  when  the  Massachusetts  freemen,  wrangling 
over  the  question  of  the  reelection  of  Vane,  were  on 
the  point  of  drawing  swords  upon  one  another  on 
Cambridge  Common. 

The  details  of  Mason's  campaign  have  no  place 
here.1  Two  hours  before  dawn  the  handful  of  Eng- 
lishmen rushed  into  the  Indian  fort  among  many 
hundreds  of  sleeping  warriors.  The  Hutchinsonian 
Underbill  was  very  valiant ;  as  was  also  the  com- 
mander, stout  in  more  senses  than  one,  who  multi- 
plied deeds  of  valor  until,  says  the  chronicler,  "  Fac- 
ing about,  he  marched  a  slow  pace  up  the  lane  he 
came  down,  perceiving  himself  very  much  out  of 
breath."  There  were  privations  as  well  as  perils. 
"  We  had,"  says  Mason,  "  but  one  pint  of  strong 
liquors  among  us  in  our  whole  march,  but  what  the 

1  Ellis,  Life  of  Mason,  383. 


70  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1637. 

wilderness  afforded  (the  bottle  of  liquor  being  in  my 
hand,  and  when  it  was  empty,  the  very  smelling  to 
the  bottle  would  presently  recover  such  as  fainted 
away,  which  happened  by  the  extremity  of  the 
heat)." *  Indeed,  no  more  thorough  bit  of  Indian 
fighting  has  ever  been  done.  The  Pequots  were  cut 
off  almost  to  a  man,  —  a  horde  of  marauders  who 
merit  small  sympathy,  for  they  had  thrust  themselves 
in  not  long  before  as  intruders  upon  the  territory 
they  occupied,2  and  had  preyed  like  wolves  upon 
their  neighbors  far  and  near. 

One  embarrassment  of  New  England,  therefore, 
with  the  summer  of  1637,  was  overcome.  Under  the 
brightening  skies,  on  the  3d  of  August,  "  the  Lord 
Ley  and  Mr.  Vane  went  from  Boston  to  the  ship, 
riding  at  Long  Island,  to  go  for'England.  At  their 
departure,  those  of  Mr.  Vane's  party  were  gathered 
together,  and  did  accompany  him  to  the  boat,  (and 
many  to  the  ship ;)  and  the  men  being  in  their  arms, 
gave  him  divers  vollies  of  shot  and  five  pieces  of 
ordnance,  and  he  had  five  more  at  the  Castle.  But 
the  Governor  was  not  come  from  the  Court,  but  had 
left  order  with  the  captain  for  their  honorable  dis- 


mission." 3 


Though  Vane  has  ceased  to  play  a  part,  we  may 
follow  for  a  moment  the  course  of  the  Antinomian 
controversy.  A  synod  was  held  at  the  end  of 
August,  in  which  the  temper  on  both  sides  was  con- 
ciliatory. Cotton  "stated  the  differences  in  a  nar- 

i 

1  Palfrey,  i.  468.  8  Winthrop,  i.  235. 

2  Ellis' s  Mason,  366. 


1 637.]       THE   CONTROVERSY  WITH   WINTHROP.  71 

row  scantling,  and  Mr.  Shepard  brought  them  yet 
nearer;  so  as,  except  men  of  good  understanding, 
.  .  .  few  could  see  where  the  difference  was."  In 
November,  however,  the  discord  was  as  bad  as  ever. 
The  General  Court,  "finding  upon  consultation  that 
two  so  opposite  parties  could  not  contain  in  the 
same  body  without  apparent  hazard  of  ruin  to  the 
whole,  agreed  to  send  away  some  of  the  principal." 
The  Hutchinsonians  generally  were  put  under  ban. 
Wheelwright,  driven  to  New  Hampshire,  became 
honorably  prominent  among  the  pioneers.  Under- 
hill  also,  now  in  great  fame  as  a  vanquisher  of  the 
Pequots,  betook  himself  thither.  Mrs.  Hutchinson 
herself  was  seized,  tried,  and  banished,  in  the  midst 
of  spiritual  excitement  that  drove  weak  heads  to  dis- 
traction. Father  Wilson,  called  home  from  service 
as  chaplain  to  help  settle  the  strife,  conveying  from 
the  seat  of  war  such  grewsome  trophies  as  the  scalps 
of  Sassacus,  of  his  brother,  and  five  other  Pequot 
sachems,1  sternly  ruled  the  hour.  "  A  woman  of 
Boston  Congregation,  having  been  in  much  trouble 
of  mind  about  her  spiritual  estate,  at  length  grew 
into  utter  desperation,  and  could  not  endure  to  hear 
of  any  comfdrt,  &c.,  so  as  one  day  she  took  her  lit- 
tle infant  and  threw  it  into  a  well,  and  then  came 
into  the  house  and  said,  now  she  was  sure  she  should 
be  damned,  for  she  had  drowned  her  child." 2  Even 
Cotton  was  in  danger,  but  escaped  by  bending  to  the 
storm.  Mrs.  Hutchinson  and  her  friends  went  at 
first  to  Rhode  Island,  where  a  part  of  them,  from  the 
site  of  Newport,  wrote  Vane  of  the  state  of  things, 

1  Ellis's  Mason,  396.  a  Winthrop,  i.  236. 


72  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1637. 

and  besought  his  influence  in  obtaining  from  the 
King  a  patent  of  the  island.  The  hearts  of  the 
exiles  yearned  after  the  young  leader,  and  the  strong- 
souled  Mrs.  Hutchinson  was  not  so  self-sustained  but 
that  she  felt  powerless  without  him.  "  I  find  their 
longings  great,"  wrote  Roger  Williams,1  "after  Mr. 
Vane,  although  they  thinck  he  cannot  returne  this 
year ;  the  eyes  of  some  are  so  earnestly  fixt  upon 
him,  that  Mrs.  Hutchinson  proposeth,  if  he  come 
not  to  New,  she  must  to  Old  England."  It  was  her 
fate  to  be  still  further  an  outcast.  At  discord  even 
with  the  exiles,  she  plunged  into  the  pathless  wilder- 
ness to  the  west,  falling  at  last,  with  her  family,  vic- 
tims to  the  savages. 

What  could  be  more  terrible  for  New  England 
than  the  crisis  of  the  Anftnomian  controversy ! 
When  a  force  was  ordered  to  take  the  field  against 
the  Pequots,  the  Boston  men,  a  most  important  part 
of  the  contingent,  refused  to  go,  because  they  sus- 
pected the  chaplain  to  be  under  a  "  covenant  of 
works."  2  While  there  can  be  no  question  that  Anne 
Hutchinson  and  Vane  would  have  been  horrified  at 
such  libertinism  as  that  of  the  Munster  fanatics,  plain 
symptoms  of  it  appeared,  and  in  high  quarters.  A 
passage  from  Winthrop  concerning  the  redoubtable 
Underbill,  reveals  him  as  a  most  precious  blade,  who 
might  easily,  if  indulged,  have  developed  into  a 
Kniperdoling.3 

"  Capt.  Underbill  (being  about  to  remove  to  Mr. 

1  To  John  Winthrop,  Ap.  1638.  2  Palfrey,  i.  492. 

Mass.  Hist,  Coll.,  4th  series,  vol.  8  Winthrop,  i.  270,  etc. 

ii.  p.  227. 


1 637.]      THE   CONTROVERSY  WITH   WINTHROP.  73 

Wheelwright)  petitioned  for  three  hundred  acres  of 
land  promised  him  formerly ;  by  occasion  whereof 
he  was  questioned  about  some  speeches  he  had  used 
in  the  ship  lately,  in  his  return  out  of  England,  viz., 
that  he  should  say  that  we  were  zealous  here,  as 
the  Scribes  and  Pharisees  were,  and  as  Paul  was  be- 
fore his  conversion,  &c.,  which  he  denying,  they 
were  proved  to  his  face  by  a  sober,  godly  woman 
whom  he  had  seduced  in  the  ship  and  drawn  to  his 
opinions,  but  she  was  after  freed  again.  He  told  her 
how  he  came  to  his  assurance  ;  he  had  lain  under  a 
spirit  of  bondage  and  a  legal  way  five  years,  and 
could  get  no  assurance,  till  at  length  as  he  was  taking 
a  pipe  of  tobacco,  the  Spirit  set  home  an  absolute 
promise  of  free  grace  with  such  assurance  and  joy  as 
he  never  since  doubted  of  his  good  estate,  neither 
should  he,  though  he  should  fall  into  sin.  .  .  .  He 
made  a  speech  in  the  assembly,  showing  that,  as  the 
Lord  was  pleased  to  convert  Paul  as  he  was  perse- 
cuting, &c.,  so  he  might  manifest  himself  to  him  as 
he  was  taking  the  moderate  use  of  the  creature  called 
tobacco.  .  .  .  The  next  Lord's  day  the  same  Capt. 
Underbill,  having  been  privately  dealt  with  upon 
suspicion  of  incontinency  with  a  neighbor's  wife,  and 
not  hearkening  unto  it,  was  publicly  questioned  and 
put  under  admonition.  The  matter  was,  for  that  the 
woman  being  young  and  beautiful,  and  withal  of  a 
jovial  spirit  and  behaviour,  he  did  daily  frequent  her 
house,  and  was  divers  times  found  there  alone  with 
her,  the  door  being  locked  on  the  inside.  He  con- 
fessed it  was  ill,  because  it  had  an  appearance  of  evil 
in  it ;  but  his  excuse  was,  that  the  woman  was  in  great 


74  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1637. 

trouble  of  mind,  and  sore  temptations,  and  that  he 
resorted  to  her  to  comfort  her ;  and  that  when  the 
door  was  found  locked  upon  them,  they  were  in  pri- 
vate prayer  together.  But  this  practice  was  clearly 
condemned  also  by  the  elders,  affirming  that  it  had 
not  been  of  good  report  for  any  of  them  to  have  done 
the  like,  and  that  they  ought  in  such  case,  to  have 
called  in  some  brother  or  sister,  and  not  to  have 
locked  the  door,  &c.  They  also  declared,  that  once 
he  had  procured  them  to  go  visit  her,  telling  them 
that  she  was  in  great  trouble  of  mind;  but  when  they 
came  to  her  (taking  her,  it  seems,  upon  the  sudden) 
they  perceived  no  such  thing." 

No  chapter  of  New  England  history  is  so  full  of  per- 
plexities as  that  which  we  have  been  considering.  The 
student  of  the  period  finds  himself  plunged  into  a  per- 
fect Donnybrook  fair  of  clashing  authorities.  What 
did  Anne  Hutchinson  really  teach  ?  Mr.  Upham, 
who  thinks  he  understands  her,  believes  her  views 
"  would  probably  meet  with  a  hearty  response  from 
enlightened  Christians  of  all  denominations  at  the 
present  day."1  S.  R.  Gardiner,  on  the  other  hand, 
finds  "  her  theology  more  stern  and  unbending  than 
that  of  the  settlers  themselves." 2  What  shall  be  said 
of  the  conduct  of  Winthrop  ? 3  Mr.  Brooks  Adams 
sees  in  him  only  the  tool  of  tyrant-priests,  trying  by 
illegal  means  to  exclude  from  the  colony  those  who 
had  every  right  to  be  there,  and  conspicuously  foiled 
by  the  woman  champion  when  they  come  to  cross 

1  Life  of  Vane,  p.  139.  8  The  Emancipation  of  Massa- 

2  History  of  England,  viii.  174.     chusetts,  <S\.\\. 


1637-]      THE   CONTROVERSY  WITH   WINTHROP.  75 

swords  in  court.  To  Palfrey,  and  multitudes  more, 
Winthrop  is  the  model  throughout  of  justice,  wisdom, 
and  patience.  Finally,  what  shall  we  think  of  Vane  ? 
Hutchinson  calls  him  "obstinate  and  self-sufficient,"1 
and  worse.  "He  craftily  made  use  of  the  party 
which  maintained  these  peculiar  opinions  in  religion, 
to  bring  him  into  civil  power  and  authority,  and 
draw  the  affections  of  the  people  from  those  who 
were  their  leaders  into  the  wilderness."2  "  Few  men 
have  done  less  good  with  greater  reputation  than  this 
statesman,"  says  Savage.3  Hildreth  accuses  him  of 
dissimulation,4  and  Ellis  thinks  "  no  very  critical  eye 
or  judgment  is  necessary  to  assure  or  persuade  us 
that  the  departure  of  Vane  was  hailed  as  an  inexpres- 
sible relief."5  Upham  and  Forster,  on  the  other 
hand,  his  biographers,  find  his  record  always  without 
imprudence  or  moral  stain ;  while  Wendell  Phillips 
pours  out  a  tribute  to  his  purity  and  mental  gifts,  as 
eloquent  as  it  is  undiscriminating : 6  — 

"  Sir  Harry  Vane  —  in  my  judgment  the  noblest 
human  being  who  ever  walked  the  streets  of  yonder 
city  —  I  do  not  forget  Franklin  or  Sam  Adams, 


1  Hist,  of  Mass.  Bay,  i.  65.  no  man  should  be  qualified  for  the 

2  Ibid.  i.  73.  place  of  Governor  until  he  had  been 
8  I.  Winthrop,  i.  170,  note.  at  least  one  year  in  the  country." 

4  Hist,  of  U.  S.,  i.  235.  Since  no  such  entry  appears  in  the 

5  Life     of     Anne     Hutchinson,  records,  Dr.  Ellis  doubts  the  fact, 
Sparks  Am.  Biog.  2d  series,  vol.  but  holds  it  to  be  certain  that  "the 
vi.  p.  248.       In   Dr.   Ellis's   later  ministers  and  the  majority  of  the 
book,  "  The  Puritan  Age "  (Bos-  people   regarded   him   with    great 
ton:  Houghton,  Mifflin  &  Co.),  the  disfavor." 

historian  Hubbard  is  cited  as  say-  6  From  the  *.  B.  K.  address  at 

ing  that  the  General  Court  "had  Harvard  College,  1881. 
passed  an  order  that  henceforward 


76  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1637. 

Washington  or  Fayette,  Garrison  or  John  Brown. 
But  Vane  dwells  an  arrow's  flight  above  them  all, 
and  his  touch  consecrated  the  continent  to  measure- 
less toleration  of  opinion  and  entire  equality  of  rights. 
We  are  told  we  can  find  in  Plato  '  all  the  intellectual 
life  of  Europe  for  two  thousand  years.'  So  you  can 
find  in  Vane  the  pure  gold  of  two  hundred  and  fifty 
years  of  American  civilization  with  no  particle  of 
its  dross.  Plato  would  have  welcomed  him  to  the 
Academy,  and  Fenelon  kneeled  with  him  at  the  altar. 
He  made  Somers  and  John  Marshall  possible ;  like 
Carnot,  he  organized  victory ;  and  Milton  pales  before 
him  in  the  stainlessness  of  his  record.  He  stands 
among  English  statesmen  preeminently  the  repre- 
sentative, in  practice  and  in  theory,  of  serene  faith  in 
the  safety  of  trusting  truth  wholly  to  her  own  defence. 
For  other  men  we  walk  backward,  and  throw  over 
their  memories  the  mantle  of  charity  and  excuse, 
saying  reverently :  *  Remember  the  temptation  and 
the  age.'  But  Vane's  ermine  has  no  stain ;  no  act 
of  his  needs  explanation  or  apology ;  and  in  thought 
he  stands  abreast  of  the  age  —  like  pure  intellect, 
belongs  to  all  time.  Carlyle  said,  in  years  when  his 
words  were  worth  heeding,  '  Young  men,  close  your 
Byron,  and  open  your  Goethe.'  If  my  counsel  had 
weight  in  these  halls,  I  should  say,  '  Young  men, 
close  your  John  Winthrop  and  Washington,  your 
Jefferson  and  Webster,  and  open  Sir  Harry  Vane.' 
It  was  the  generation  that  knew  Vane  who  gave 
to  our  Alma  Mater  for  a  seal  the  simple  pledge  : 
Veritas? 
No  writer  has  judged  the  matter  more  wisely  than 


1637.]      THE   CONTROVERSY  WITH   WINTHROP.  77 

Gardiner,1  who  declares  that  Vane,  coming  to  Massa- 
chusetts at  a  time  of  unexampled  difficulty,  found 
that  Anne  Hutchinson,  voluble,  ready,  earnest,  ut- 
tered doctrines  which  attracted  strongly  his  mystical 
temperament.  The  absolute  character  of  his  intel- 
lect made  him  careless  about  expediency.  He  stood 
for  tolerance,  declaring  a  state  had  no  right  to  sup- 
press liberty  of  speech  and  thought.  But  gold  may 
be  bought  too  dear.  Vane  stated  the  absolute  truth, 
but  perhaps  then  it  could  not  be  carried  out.  Win- 
throp  knew  that  dissension  in  Massachusetts  would 
be  Laud's  opportunity,  and  that  a  united  front  must 
be  shown ;  the  Pequot  dangers,  too,  made  this  im- 
perative. Many  things  allowable  in  peace  are  not 
allowable  in  time  of  war.  Winthrop  felt  toward 
Vane  as  Cromwell  did  when  he  prayed  "  that  the 
Lord  would  deliver  him  from  Sir  Harry  Vane ! " 

To  this  judgment  of  Gardiner,  it  may  be  added 
that  Henry  Vane  in  Massachusetts  was  a  magnificent 
boy,  full  of  power  and  fine  impulses,  but  not  yet  freed 
from  childishness.  It  was  boyish  presumption  for 
him  at  once  upon  arriving  to  set  himself  up  as  an 
arbiter  of  disputes,  and  undertake  among  those  wary, 
peril-seasoned  veterans  the  critical  post  of  Governor ; 
very  boyish  was  his  contempt  of  tact  and  neglect  of 
expediency ;  when  he  felt  that  matters  under  him 
were  drifting  toward  destruction,  like  a  boy  again,  he 
had  a  hearty  fit  of  crying  over  it,  and  sought  with  a 
certain  degree  of  subterfuge  to  get  out  from  under 
his  burden.  When  at  last  he  was  displaced,  and  the 
power  restored  to  the  politic  Winthrop,  the  petulance 

1  Hist,  of  Eng.  viii.  174,  etc. 


78  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1637. 

was  boyish  with  which  he  pouted  and  sulked  until 
he  set  sail  for  home.  Yet  with  it  all  how  prophetic 
is  this  Massachusetts  experience  of  the  noble  leader 
into  whom  he  was  to  mature !  The  superb  audacity 
which  feared  before  nothing  was  to  become  a  prin- 
cipal factor  in  the  force  that  was  to  raise  the  Eng- 
lish Commonwealth  to  a  position  supreme  among 
nations.  Even  now  whoever  stood  in  his  presence 
seemed  in  some  way  subdued  by  a  sense  of  great- 
ness, so  that  the  absurdities  and  unintelligibilities 
which,  in  blindness,  he  favored,  found  a  dangerous 
acceptance.  "  If  it  had  not  been  for  him,  these, 
like  many  other  errors,  might  have  prevailed  a  short 
time  without  any  disturbance  to  the  State,  and  as 
the  absurdity. of  them  appeared,  silently  subsided, 
and  posterity  would  not  have  known  that  such  a 
woman  as  Mrs.  Hutchinson  ever  existed."1  In  his 
after-years  he  was  to  countenance  on  the  one  hand 
Catholic  emancipation,  on  the  other,  to  extend  pro- 
tection to  the  pioneers  of  Unitarianism.  "  The  honest, 
moral  heathen,"  indeed,  were  not  beyond  the  scope 
of  his  charity.  Even  thus  early  this  fine  toleration 
had  from  him  no  indistinct  utterance.  Speaking 
of  his  New  England  career,  says  a  writer  of  that 
day,  "  It  was  of  God's  great  mercy  that  it  ended 
not  in  our  destruction."  Very  likely.  He  was  to 
become  one  of  the  greatest  of  state-builders;  he 
tried  his  "  'prentice-hand  "  on  Massachusetts,  the  very 
energy  which,  when  well  guided,  was  to  be  so  effec- 
tive, racking  nearly  to  its  downfall  the  jack-straw 
frame-work  which  the  cautious  Winthrop  was  so  pain- 
fully erecting. 

1  Hutchinson,  i.  65. 


1637.]      THE   CONTROVERSY  WITH   WINTHROP.  79 

Nothing  is  finer  in  these  old-time  strivers  than  the 
magnanimity  with  which,  forgetting  presently  the 
bitter  blow-giving,  they  stand  by  one  another  with 
helpful  hands  and  affectionate  speech.  Roger  Wil- 
liams, harshly  driven  out,  blunts  the  scalping-knife 
of  Sassacus  threatening  his  persecutors.  Vane  too, 
forgetting  his  rejection,  saved,  a  few  years  later,  the 
freedom  of  the  colony,  a  service  generously  rendered 
and  heartily  and  gratefully  recognized.  When,  in 
1644,  the  planters  were  about  to  lose  their  privileges, 
and  greatly  needed  friends  at  home,  "  it  pleased  God 
to  stir  them  up  such  friends,  viz.,  Sir  Henry  Vane, 
who  had  sometime  lived  at  Boston,  and  though  he 
might  have  taken  occasion  against  us  for  some  dis- 
honor which  he  apprehended  to  have  been  unjustly 
put  upon  him  here,  yet  both  now  and  at  other  times 
he  showed  himself  a  true  friend  to  New  England 
and  a  man  of  noble  and  generous  mind."1 

A  letter  of  Vane's  to  Winthrop  soon  after  shows 
the  best  spirit.  With  Vane  charity  has  grown,  and 
he  wishes  it  may  grow  in  the  breasts  of  his  old  an- 
tagonists. 

"  Honored  Sr,  I  receaved  yours  by  your  Sonne, 
and  was  unwilling  to  let  him  returne  without  telling 
you  as  much,  the  Excersise  and  troubles  wch  God  is 
pleased  to  lay  upon  these  kingdomes  and  the  Inhab- 
itants in  them,  teaches  us  patience  and  forbearance 
one  wth  another  in  some  measure,  though  there  be 
difference  in  our  opinions :  wch  makes  me  hope  that 
from  the  experience  heere  it  may  also  be  derived  to 
yourselves,  least  whilst  the  Congregationall  way 

1  Winthrop,  ii.  248. 


80  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY   VANE.  [1637. 

amongst  you  is  in  its  freedome  and  is  backed  wth 
power,  it  teach  its  oppugners  heere  to  extirpate  it  and 
roote  it  out  from  its  owne  principles  and  practice.  I 
shall  need  to  say  noe  more  knowing  your  Sonne  can 
acquaint  you  particularly  wth  our  affaires.  Sr,  I  am, 
Your  very  affectionat  freind  and  Servaunt  in 

Christ :  H.  VANE. 

June,  the  10 
1645. 

Pray  Commende  mee  kindely  to  your  Wife, 
Mr.  Cotton  and  his  wife  and  the'  rest  of  my 
freinds  wth  you. 
For  my  honod  freind  John  Winthrop,  Sen.  Esq., 

These 
*In  New  England." 1 

Young  Harry  Vane  returned  to  England  at  an  age 
when  the  youth  of  to-day  is  just  passing  from  his  years 
of  training  to  serious  work.  What  an  experience  he 
had  had  thus  far!  From  his  tempestuous  boyhood 
at  Westminster  school  and  Oxford,  he  had  traversed 
Europe  in  the  depth  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  at 
the  very  moment  when  the  great  Gustavus  was  beat- 
ing Tilly  to  the  earth ;  and  he  was  behind  the  scenes 
in  Vienna  when  Ferdinand  and  his  Jesuit  advisers, 
biting  back  their  chagrin  and  jealousy,  were  beseech- 

1  This  letter  betrays  no  sign  of  movements  of  the  army  of  the 
agitation,  but  it  was  written  in  a  "  New  Model "  which  were  to  re- 
most  trying  crisis.  The  Parlia-  suit,  that  same  week,  in  the  hard- 
ment,  of  which  Vane  was  now  the  won  victory,  of  Naseby.  This 
leader,  had  received  news  of  the  interesting  document,  preserved  in 
capture,  the  week  before,  of  the  the  Massachusetts  archives,  is  re- 
stronghold  of  Leicester  by  the  produced  here  in  fac-simile. 
King;  and  was  directing  those 


1637.3      THE  CONTROVERSY  WITH  WINTHROP.          8 1 
fffpivrtj    0 


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nt/1-*^  ctfifoc^/,  a  ^jw*  • 


82  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1637. 

ing  the  injured  Wallenstein,  sulking  at  Prague,  to 
shield  the  heart  of  the  empire  from  the  Swedish 
spear-thrust.  At  home  again,  he  had  stood  undazed 
in  the  midst  of  the  glamour  surrounding  the  young 
Charles  I.,  had  borne  unmoved  both  the  blandish- 
ments and  the  ill-temper  of  Laud,  and  been  for  a 
moment  in  the  thought  of  haughty  Strafford,  even 
at  the  time  when,  leaping  boldly  for  the  position  of 
a  Richelieu,  over  an  England  in  which  popular  lib- 
erty should  be  utterly  destroyed,  he  read,  in  the 
isolation  of  his  Irish  viceroyship,  the  news  which 
his  correspondents  sent  him  of  noteworthy  men 
and  events.  He  had  crossed  an  ocean  which  only 
the  boldest  hearts  dared  to  foce,  and  on  the  con- 
fines of  the  world,  while  wrangling  daily  in  the 
toughest  of  controversies,  headed  the  settlers  against 
the  subtlest  and  most  energetic  foes  whom  the  wil- 
derness ever  sent  against  New  England.  What 
wonder  that  he  ripened  early,  and  that  now,  as  he 
returns  to  England,  the  astute  leaders  of  her  desti- 
nies at  this  hour  make  him  at  once  their  associate 
and  admit  him  to  their  most  secret  counsels  ! 


PART   II. 

THE  EVOLUTION  OF   REPUBLICANISM. 
1637-1648. 


CHAPTER   V. 

THE  OPENING  OF  THE  LONG  PARLIAMENT. 

WHILE  Vane  waits  through  the  year  or  two  be- 
tween his  return  from  America  and  the  opening  of 
the  "  Short  Parliament  "  in  1 640,  which  was  the  be- 
ginning of  his  public  life  in  England,  certain  details 
of  constitutional  history  must  be  made  plain.  It  can 
be  justly  said  that  while  Vane  was  thoroughly  an  Eng- 
lishman in  his  principles,  he  became  also  thoroughly 
an  American.  That  this  may  be  understood,  the 
ancient  institutions  must  be  rapidly  described  which 
those  white-bodied,  fair-haired,  blue-eyed  Teutons 
from  whom  the  English-speaking  world  descends 
cherished  in  their  German  home,  and  which  have  not 
become  extinct,  but  only  developed.1  The  consti- 
tution of  the  United  States  contains  them  in  modi- 
fied form,  while  the  course  of  English  reform  is  for 

1  The  brief  constitutional  sketch    works  of  Stubbs,  Freeman,  Gneist, 
which  follows  is  based  upon  the    and  Hallam. 


84  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE,  [1637. 

the  most  part  a  struggle  to  regain  them.  The  cause 
for  which  the  heroes  of  the  English  Commonwealth 
died  in  vain  was  the  restoration  of  this  primitive 
freedom. 

The  great  leading  fact  in  that  ancient  polity  is  that 
power  was  in  the  hands  of  the  tribesmen.  At  the 
assemblies  of  the  nation,  which  took  place  at  certain 
stated  times,  the  public  business  was  submitted  to  all 
the  freemen,  who  gave  their  opinion  by  clashing  their 
arms  or  by  shouting.  No  man  had  authority  over 
them  except  as  he  was  elected.  Some  tribes  had  offi- 
cers called  Kings,  others  not,  —  but  where  a  King 
existed  he  was  no  autocrat.  He  became  King  only 
through  the  suffrages  of  the  multitudes;  and  the  same 
thing  can  be  said  of  the  Principes,  or  Heretogas, 
army  leaders,  who,  each  one  surrounded  by  a  com- 
pany of  voluntary  adherents  influenced  by  his  prow- 
ess, wielded  the  war  power.  There  were,  indeed, 
sharply  distinguished  classes :  below  the  freemen 
were  slaves,  and  the  freemen  themselves  contained  a 
class  of  nobles  out  from  whom  the  King  and  Here- 
togas  must  be  elected.  With  some  limitations,  how- 
ever, it  was  government  of,  by,  and  for  the  People. 

With  the  Saxon  conquest  of  England  in  the  sixth 
century  some  modification  of  the  primitive  system 
may  be  observed.  In  remote  expeditions,  where  there 
was  a  call  for  skilful  guidance  on  the  sea  and  good 
generalship  on  land,  —  where,  too,  a  certain  strong 
discipline  was  necessary,  the  one-man  power  would 
be  needed,  and  King  and  He^etoga  would  naturally 
rise  into  greater  authority  than  when  the  tribes  were 
at  home  and  at  peace.  We  find  then,  as  the  separate 


1637.]      OPENING   OF  THE  LONG  PARLIAMENT.          85 

Saxon  kingdoms  come  to  dot  the  shore  of  Britain, 
that  kingship  has  much  more  importance  than  in  the 
earlier  time.  The  King,  however,  remained  elective, 
and  the  meetings  of  the  freemen  by  no  means  lost 
their  place  or  power.  Alfred,  four  hundred  years 
after  the  Saxon  settlement,  corrected  whatever  ten- 
dency to  autocracy  had  appeared,  reinvigorating  the 
popular  elements  which  had  been  the  glory  of  the 
old  order. 

At  length,  as  a  land-slide  superimposes,  upon  a 
tract  a  great  new  mass  that  differs  from  it,  so  the 
Norman  conquest  heaped  upon  the  Saxon  methods 
something  quite  foreign  and  which  was  slow  to  coa- 
lesce. The  Norman  race  is  the  chameleon  among 
races,  taking  on  the  tongue,  the  character,  in  fact, 
of  whatever  stock  it  chanced  to  fasten  to,  in  its  wide 
wanderings  and  vigorous  fightings.  In  the  tenth 
century  it  fastened  to  the  Franks  —  and  the  polity 
which  it  transplanted  to  England  one  hundred  and 
fifty  years  later  was  that  of  the  Franks,  which  gave 
now  to  the  Norman  character  its  entire  color.  In  this 
polity  the  People  had  become  well-nigh  obliterated. 
A  company  of  great  lords,  owning  some  suzerain  as 
chief,  had,  each  one  in  turn,  his  own  company  of  de- 
pendants, —  these  dependants  in  turn  being  lords  of 
other  dependants  in  a  yet  lower  grade.  Feudalism, 
in  fact,  it  was  which  Duke  William  after  Hastings 
laid  over  the  folk-motes,  with  which  in  township,  hun- 
dred, and  shire  the  vanquished  Saxon  had  heretofore 
regulated  his  life. 

William,  however,  dared  do  no  more  than  super- 
impose his  Feudalism.  The  Saxon  system  persisted 


86  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1637. 

underneath :  for  local  government  the  freemen  still 
met  in  their  assemblies.  In  each  little  neighborhood 
the  motes  were  primary ;  for  the  shire,  with  the  more 
important  individuals,  there  came  to  the  mote  repre- 
sentatives of  each  township,  —  the  reeve  and  four 
men.  Moreover,  neither  William  nor  his  successors 
dared  to  reign  without  authorization  by  that  ancient 
Saxon  form  of  election. 

Conquered  and  conqueror  at  last,  in  tongue,  in 
blood,  in  polity,  coalesce ;  and  at  the  end  of  the  thir- 
teenth century  the  resultant  order  can  be  plainly 
seen.  Upon  the  throne  still  sits  a  powerful  King, 
with  feudatories  below  him,  grade  upon  grade.  Par- 
liament, however,  has  come  in/to  being :  there  sit  the 
great  lords  of  their  own  right ;  but  besides,  as  each 
township  sent  to  the  shire-mote  its  reeve  and  four 
men,  so  now  to  this  mote  of  the  nation,  Parliament, 
each  shire  sends  two  discreet  Knights  and  each  con- 
siderable town  one  or  more  delegated  Burgesses. 
The  principle  of  representation  has  become  fixed  in 
the  high  places. 

Up  to  this  time  England  has  had  no  preeminence 
in  maintaining  the  primitive  Teutonic  freedom.  Cas- 
tile and  Arragon  have  derived  from  their  Visigothic 
founders  powerful  popular  assemblies.  Frederick  II, 
the  Hohenstauffen,  has  maintained  them  in  Italy,  and 
even  in  France  they  have  not  become  extinct.  Now, 
however,  all  disappears.  As  the  powers  of  the  Ibe- 
rian peninsula  combine  into  Spain,  arbitrary  rule 
stamps  out  liberty.  A  tyrant  suppresses  it  in  France. 
It  vanishes  from  Southern  Europe  with  the  great 
race  of  the  Hohenstauffen.  Germany,  dismembered, 


1637.]      OPENING   OF  THE  LONG  PARLIAMENT.          87 

is  given  over  to  a  horde  of  brutish  despots,  who  as 
with  hoofs  trample  freedom  to  death.  In  England 
alone  it  persists,  at  first  very  doubtfully.  It  flickers 
like  a  candle-flame  in  a  rough  wind,  but  the  hand  of 
Simon  de  Montfort  is  providentially  held  before  it. 
Edward  I.  still  further  feeds  and  shields  it,  and  from 
that  day  to  this  it  has  been  a  light,  unquenched,  un- 
quenchable. Richard  II,  son  of  the  Black  Prince, 
would  have  ruled,  if  he  could,  by  hereditary  right,  as 
an  autocrat :  the  nation  promptly  deposed  him,  and 
the  house  of  Lancaster  came  in  as  constitutional  sov- 
ereigns. In  their  Parliaments,  indeed,  the  Lords  were 
powerful  while  the  People  were  weak.  The  Lords 
being  for  the  most  part  slain  in  the  wars  of  the 
Roses,  the  People  at  the  same  time  not  yet  becom- 
ing strong,  the  Tudor  Kings  succeed  to  great  might 
—  might  increased  by  still  another  circumstance. 
The  clergy,  owing  allegiance  in  the  ancient  time  to 
Rome,  had  been  in  a  measure  independent  of  the 
King,  and  often  opposed  him  vigorously.  At  the  Re- 
formation, the  sovereign  became  the  over-lord  of  the 
Church,  and  Bishop  and  priest  sank  into  subservience. 
About  Henry  VIII  every  thwarting  influence  seemed 
beaten  thoroughly  to  the  earth,  and  his  children  suc- 
ceeded to  an  autocracy  whose  limitations  were  of  the 
slightest.  But  the  power  of  the  Commons  was  stead- 
ily growing.  Elizabeth  felt  it,  but  had  the  tact  to 
remain  popular,  and  preserved  to  her  death  at  least 
the  semblance  of  all  her  father  had  bequeathed.  In 
1603  came  to  the  throne  the  foolish  race  of  Stuart, 
with  slight  governing  ability,  with  no  prudence,  with 
no  real  patriotism.  They  claimed  at  once  to  rule  jure 


88  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1637. 

divino,  recognized  no  right  in  the  People  to  limit 
their  prerogative,  and  felt  shame,  as  Charles  I.  de- 
clared, that  their  cousins  of  France  and  Spain  had  so 
far  got  the  start  of  them  in  setting  their  feet  upon 
the  necks  of  the  People. 

The  reign  of  James  I.  did  not  pass  without  mut- 
terings  of  coming  storm.  Out  from  the  People,  op- 
pressed religiously  and  politically,  fled  westward  as 
exiles  a  band  of  the  best  and  bravest.  With  them 
young  Harry  Vane  had  thought  at  first  to  cast  his 
lot,  with  a  result  which  we  have  seen.  He  came  home 
no  doubt  greatly  matured  and  sobered.  When  he 
reached  England,  in  the  fall  of  1637,  his  father  and 
Sir  Thomas  Wentworth  (not  yet  Earl  of  Strafford), 
the  former  Comptroller  of  the  Treasury  and  favored 
by  the  Queen,  the  latter  Lord  Deputy  in  Ireland, 
were  the  two  most  prominent  figures,  if  we  except 
Laud,  connected  with  the  government.  They  were 
not  friends.  Wentworth's  London  correspondent 
informed  Wentworth  of  young  Harry's  return,  as  he 
had  informed  him  of  his  departure.  "  Henry  Vane, 
the  Comptroller's  eldest  son,  who  hath  been  Gov- 
ernor in  New  England  this  last  year,  is  come  home ; 
whether  he  hath  left  his  former  misgrounded  opin- 
ions, for  which  he  left  us,  I  know  not."  1  Not  long 
after  his  return  Vane  married  Frances,  daughter  of 
Sir  Christopher  Wray,  of  Ashby  in  Lincolnshire, 
thus  connecting  himself  with  a  family  of  conse- 
quence, members  of  which  find  mention  in  the, story 
of  the  Civil  War  before  long  to  occupy  us.  He  re- 
newed also  his  intimacy  with  Pym,  and  became  the 

1  Quoted  by  Forster,  Vane,  280. 


I637-]     OPENING   OF  THE  LONG  PARLIAMENT.  89 

friend  of  Hampden,  remaining  in  the  closest  union 
with  those  men  so  long  as  they  lived.  Vane's  pub- 
lic career  in  England  did  not  begin  until  1640. 

We  shall  have  little  farther  to  do  with  the  Puritans 
of  New  England.  We  turn  to  those  of  the  same 
way  of  thinking  who  remained  at  home,  —  who,  less 
fortunate  in  that  they  were  beset  by  a  thousand  hin- 
drances from  which  the  exiles  were  freed,  were  car- 
ried prematurely  into  battle.  They  sought  to  estab- 
lish on  the  old  soil  what  would  have  been  in  all 
substantial  respects  America.  They  failed,  dying  by 
thousands  in  the  field,  in  dungeons,  on  the  scaffold. 
They  failed,  but  their  ideal  has  ever  since  in  their  old 
home  been  slowly  becoming  the  real.  In  1832,  Sir 
Charles  Wetherell  denounced  the  Reform  Bill  as  the 
"same  as  that  of  Cromwell  &  Co.  It  was  Pride's 
Purge  over  again ;  the  principle  of  the  bill  was  Re- 
publican in  its  basis ;  it  was  destructive  of  all  old 
rights  and  privileges."  *  Wetherell  was  then  the 
ablest  of  the  Tory  leaders  of  the  Commons,  and  inter- 
preted with  perfect  correctness  the  signs  of  the  times. 
The  present  writer  heard  Sir  Wilfrid  Lawson  ex- 
claim in  the  House  of  Commons,2  "  I  belong  to  a 
society  for  the  abolition  of  the  House  of  Lords ; "  and 
the  utterance,  so  far  from  being  regarded  as  treason- 
able or  revolutionary,  met  with  loud  applause.  The 
disestablishment  of  the  Church  has  come  in  Ireland, 
is  about  to  come  in  Wales,  and  cannot  be  far  off  in 
England  itself.  The  abolition  of  all  privileged  faiths 

1  Skottowe,  Short  Hist,  of  Parliament,  p.  261. 

2  Aug.  19,  1886. 


90  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1637. 

and  classes,  Voluntaryism  in  religion,  the  untram- 
melled popular  voice  in  politics  —  the  very  adjust- 
ment for  which  the  Commonwealthsmen  strove,  as 
all  believe,  is  now  not  far  off.  "  For  the  last  two 
hundred  years,  England  has  been  doing  little  more 
than  carrying  out,  in  a  slow  and  tentative  way,  the 
scheme  of  political  and  religious  reform  propounded 
by  the  Army  at  the  close  of  the  Civil  War."  l 

Charles  I.  came  to  the  throne  in  1625,  a  man  of 
twenty-five,  by  no  means  without  gifts,  accomplish- 
ments, and  virtues.  His  portraits  give  a  high,  nar- 
row forehead,  an  oval  face,  ending  below  in  a  chin 
whose  weakness  is  not  conqpealed  by  the  pointed 
beard.  The  handsome  eyes  have  a  somewhat  mel- 
ancholy expression  which  strikes  a  sympathetic 
chord  in  a  sensitive  beholder.  The  delicate  outline 
of  the  nose  indicates  refinement,  not  power.  Well- 
built  shoulders,  upon  which  falls  the  long,  abun- 
dant hair,  surmount  appropriately  a  figure  through- 
out erect  and  soldierly.  He  was  a  good  husband 
and  father,  well-read,  and  with  fine  taste  in  art. 
He  could  speak  and  write  with  ability,  bore  with 
perfect  fortitude  the  hardest  campaigning  and  the 
severest  ill-fortune,  and  could  fight  bravely  in  battle. 
When  he  relied  upon  himself  instead  of  trusting 
to  foolish  advisers,  he  sometimes  showed  ability  as 
a  general.  His  faults,  however,  were  utterly  in- 
curable, and  of  a  kind  to  wreck:  any  man.  He  had 
little  self-reliance  and  no  skill  in  selecting  counsel- 
lors. The  narrow  Laud,  the  hare-brained  Rupert, 

1  J.  R.  Green,  Short  Hist,   of  the  English  People,  p.  548,  Mao 
millan,  1875. 


1637.]     OPENING'  OF  THE  LONG  PARLIAMENT.  91 

most  of  all,  the  Queen,  daughter  of  Henri  IV, 
full  of  quick  French  wit  and  spirit,  but  frivolous, 
and  utterly  without  appreciation  of  the  sober,  self- 
willed  Protestants,  among  whom  she,  an  ardent 
Catholic,  had  come  to  rule,  —  such  advisers  as  these 
counted  far  more  with  Charles  than  the  fine  soldier 
Sir  Ralph  Hopton,  the  noble-minded  Falkland,  and 
the  discreet  Hyde.  The  great  moral  defect  in 
Charles  was  the  absolute  faithlessness  which  made 
him  completely  unreliable  in  all  things  affecting  his 
place  and  claims.  This  treachery  of  nature  strangely 
coexisted  in  him  with  a  sensitive  conscience,  his 
moral  judgment  having  become  perverted.  He  ap- 
peared to  feel  that  a  Prince,  as  to  ethical  obligations, 
was  lifted  into  a  sphere  above  that  of  ordinary  mor- 
tals. It  was  right  for  him  to  make  promises  with  a 
mental  reservation,  so  that  the  engagement  might  be 
broken  at  his  pleasure.  In  the  atmosphere  in  which 
he  had  been  educated  "  it  stood  fixed  that  between  a 
King  and  his  subjects  nothing  of  the  nature  of  recip- 
rocal agreement  could  exist, —  that,  even  if  he  wished, 
he  could  not  give  away  his  absolute  authority, —  that 
in  every  promise  and  oath  of  the  King  lay  the  con- 
dition salvo  jure  regis, —  that  he,  therefore,  in  case  of 
necessity,  might  break  his  oath,  and  that  the  decision 
as  to  the  existence  of  the  necessity  rested  with  him 
alone."1 

In  the  twelve  years  that  Charles  had  now  been 
reigning  what  manner  of  man  he  was  had  abundantly 
appeared.  He  had  as  high  ideas  of  what  it  was 

1  Gneist:  Geschichte  und  heutige  Gestalt  der  Aemter  in  England^ 
p.  220. 


92  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1637. 

proper  for  a  King  to  be  and  do  as  Richard  II,  as 
Henry  VIII,  as  his  father  James,  and  had  the  cour- 
age to  carry  them  out.  In  his  eyes  his  just  prero- 
gative stretched  so  far  as  to  cover  the  power  of  the 
purse,  of  the  sword,  of  legislation,  of  settling  religious 
faith,  leaving,  in  fact,  no  room  for  the  voice  of  the 
People  anywhere  in  the  public  management.  The 
constitutional  party  in  Parliament,  with  which,  from 
the  first,  Charles  had  been  in  difficulty,  found  them- 
selves obliged  either  to  sacrifice  the  constitution,  and 
besides  that  their  persons  and  property,  or  to  attack 
royalty  itself.  From  the  latter  they  were  restrained 
by  the  oath  which  bound  them  "  to  hold  upright  the 
royal  person  and  authority."  As  the  struggle  deep- 
ened, and  they  were  forced  to  stand  in  opposition, 
they  took  refuge  in  the  fiction  that  the  King  in 
Parliament  was  struggling  with  the  King  among  bad 
advisers.1 

The  first  bad  adviser  of  Charles,  Buckingham,  was 
killed  by  an  assassin  at  Portsmouth.  He  dissolved 
in  anger  three  Parliaments  in  succession.  He  caused 
the  brave  and  wise  Sir  John  Eliot,  the  People's 
champion  during  his  early  reign,  to  die  in  prison. 
By  ratifying  the  Petition  of  Right,  the  second 
Magna  Charta  of  Anglo-Saxon  liberty,2 ."  he  bound 
himself  never  again  to  raise  mon&y  without  the  con- 
sent of  the  Houses,  never  again  to  imprison  any 
person  except  in  due  course  of  law,  and  never  again 
to  subject  his  people  to  the  jurisdiction  of  courts-^ 
martial."  Most  reluctantly  did  he  sanction  this,  and 

1  Gneist,  p.  221. 

2  Macaulay's  Hist,  of  England,  vol.  i.  p.  66  (Harper's  ed.). 


I637-]     OPENING   OF  THE  LONG  PARLIAMENT.          93 

eleven  years  passed  after  the  dissolution  of  the  Par- 
liament which  forced  it  from  him,  years  spent  in 
trying  to  evade  it,  before  he  summoned  another. 

We  must  try  to  do  justice  to  well-meaning  men 
who  at  the  same  time  were  terrible  mischief-makers. 
Where  can  be  found  souls  more  brave  and  honest 
than  Laud  and  Strafford,  who  in  those  eleven  years, 
from  1629  to  1640,  became  the  right-hand  men  of 
Charles,  and  instituted  that  policy  of  Thorough 
which  was  to  put  the  nation  under  the  King's  feet ! 
Laud,  small  in  figure  and  in  intellect,  testy  in  tem- 
per, thoroughly  honest,  in  his  zeal  running  full  tilt 
against  obstacles  whose  gravity  he  was  quite  too 
short-sighted  to  estimate,  —  stopped  at  no  means, 
even  to  the  slitting  of  noses  and  the  cutting  off  of 
ears,  to  reduce  to  conformity  the  sullen  sectaries  who 
hated^Prelacy.  Strafford,  a  man  of  far  higher  type, 
convinced  that  the  People  for  their  own  good  should 
submit  themselves  to  the  guidance  of  superior  minds, 
—  the  King  namely,  acting  with  the  help  of  the  wise 
counsellors  by  whom  he  should  surround  himself, 
employed  talents  of  the  highest  order  to  set  up  the 
enlightened  despotism,  in  which  he  himself,  with  a 
high  motive,  might  play  the  part  of  a  Richelieu,  — 
the  polity  which  he  believed  to  be  so  much  better  for 
the  People  than  that  the  People  should  govern  them- 
selves. By  means  of  the  Star-Chamber  and  High- 
Commission  Courts,  two  innovations  of  the  Tudor 
time,  constituted  of  appointees  of  the  King,  and  ad- 
ministering the  vast  prerogatives  which  the  King, 
as  head  of  both  Church  and  State,  had  now  come  to 
claim,  Laud  and  Strafford  pushed  on  against  pop- 


94  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1640. 

ular  rights  with  the  utmost  energy.  When  Scotland, 
glowing  and  tenacious  in  the  gritty  Scotch  fashion, 
laid  the  Covenant  upon  a  tombstone  in  an  Edinburgh 
churchyard,  thousands  of  rugged  hands  signing  it, 
while  tears  streamed  and  the  sound  of  fierce  prayer 
arose,  the  King  and  his  advisers  sought  to  force  on 
Scotland  the  Bishops  and  the  liturgy,  not  less  hate- 
ful to  it  than  the  Pope  or  than  Satan.  During  all 
these  years  great  shiploads  of  earnest  people  were 
crossing  the  sea  to  settle  in  America, —  men  deter- 
mined that  the  King  should  not  thrust  them  under. 
Yet  it  was  soon  plain  that  America  would  be  no 
asylum.  If  the  policy  of  Thorough  prevailed  at  home, 
the  King's  arm  could  easily  reach  across  the  sea. 

Long  the  King  rode  rough-shod,  but  his  course 
was  at  last  curbed.  The  great  warfare  began,  in 
which  the  first  missile  to  be  discharged  was  the 
famous  stool  which  Jenny  Geddes,  in  St.  Giles' 
Kirk  in  Edinburgh,  hurled  at  the  head  of  the  Bishop 
as  he  read  the  liturgy.  Scotland  was  already  in  re- 
bellion, England  on  the  verge  of  it.  The  opposition 
was  so  powerful,  the  need  of  money  so  great,  that  a 
Parliament  became  indispensable.  The  writs  were 
issued.  From  their  castles  came  the  nobles  to  the 
House  of  Lords ;  from  each  shire  came  in  'the  old 
way  the  two  Knights ;  from  each  considerable  town 
its  Burgess,  until  500  stout  Englishmen  sat  down  in 
the  chapel  of  St.  Stephen  at  Westminster. 

Something  must  be  said  of  Pym  and  Hampden", 
who,  now  in  these  forming  years  of  Vane,  had  great 
influence  over  him.  In  1640,  John  Pym  was  fifty-six 
years  old,  and  the  leading  commoner  of  England. 


1640.]         OPENING    OF   THE  LONG  PARLIAMENT.      95 

He  was  well-born,  had  been  at  Oxford,  and  early 
became  famous  as  a  lawyer.  From  1614  he  had 
been  in  Parliament,  and  in  1620  was  a  leader  there 
on  the  popular  side.  He  had  maintained  the  privi- 
leges of  Parliament  in  1621  against  James  I,  and 
been  imprisoned  for  his  opposition  to  the  Court.  In 
the  first  Parliament  of  Charles  I  he  was  a  leader 
against  prerogative,  and  in  the  following  year,  1626, 
was  a  manager  in  the  impeachment  of  Buckingham. 
He  was  prominent  in  treating  with  the  Scotch  Cove- 
nanters, who  in  1639,  after  Charles  had  tried  to 
force  Episcopacy  upon  them,  made  overtures  to  the 
Commons,  looking  toward  mutual  help;  and  went 
with  Hampden  through  the  country  to  incite  the 
people  to  send  in  petitions.  He  was  fast  advancing 
to  tharf;  point  of  power  which  made  his  nickname, 
King  Pym,  so  appropriate. 

John  Hampden  in  1640  was  forty-six  years  old, 
one  of  the  gentry,  his  mother  an  aunt  of  a  Hunting- 
donshire squire  at  this  time  quite  unknown,  Cromwell. 
He  too  had  had  an  Oxford  training  and  had  become 
a  lawyer ;  there  had  been  at  one  time  thought  of  con- 
fiding to  him  the  education  of  the  Prince  of  Wales, 
his  classical  attainments  were  so  considerable.  He 
had  large  estates  in  Oxfordshire,  where  he  lived,  had 
been  in  Parliament  as  early  as  1621,  and  also  in  the 
first  Parliament  of  Charles  I,  in  which  he  made  no 
figure.  The  hour  struck  for  Hampden  toward  the 
end  of  the  decade,  when  the  King,  having  angrily 
dissolved  the  Parliaments  of  1625  and  1627,  at- 
tempted to  raise  money  by  a  forced  loan.  Hampden 
took  the  lead  in  refusing  to  be  assessed,  and  was  fol- 


96  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1640. 

lowed  by  eighty  more  of  the  landed  gentry,  all  of 
whom  underwent  arrest,  while  recusants  of  a  lower 
class  were  forced  into  the  Army  or  Navy.  The  year 
1636,  however,  it  was  which  made  him  everywhere 
famous.  It  had  long  been  customary  to  require  a 
subsidy  from  the  borderers  to  defray  the  expense  of 
keeping  out  the  Scots,  and  also  to  require  "ship- 
money  "  from  the  maritime  towns  for  maintaining  a 
Navy  in  time  of  war.  As  regards  these,  the  author- 
ization by  Parliament  seems  not  always  to  have  been 
held  necessary.  At  length,  however,  Charles  de- 
manded ship-money  in  time  of  peace,  and  of  the 
inland  counties.  Hampden,  following  his  own  prece- 
dent in  the  case  of  the  forced  loan,  refused,  and 
resolved  to  bring  the  matter  to  trial.  The  case  came 
on  in  1636,  in  the  midst  of  excitement,  the  Court 
pursuing  Hampden  with  the  utmost  animosity,  while 
the  country  in  general,  feeling  that  no  man's  property 
was  safe  against  illegal  seizure,  exasperated  against 
the  Court,  adopted  the  intrepid  protester  as  their 
champion  and  hero.  Of  the  twelve  judges  of  the 
Exchequer  who  tried  the  case,  seven  pronounced 
against  Hampden  :  this  had  the  effect  to  draw  still 
more  toward  him  the  hearts  of  men,  and  in  1640 
Hampden  was  the  most  popular  man  in  England. 

Vane  is  now  to  step  forth  into  that  career  of  pub- 
lic service  from  which,  during  the  twenty-two  years 
of  life  that  remained  to  him,  he  was  not  to  retire,  ex- 
cept when  forced  to  do  so  by  the  hand  of  tyranny. 
For  the  Parliament  which  the  King  was  at  last 
forced  to  summon,  elections  were  held  in  March,  and 


1640.]     OPENING  OF  THE  LONG  PARLIAMENT.  97 

Henry  Vane  was  returned  for  Kingston  upon  Hull. 
Immediately  after,  "by  his  father's  credit  with  the 
Earl  of  Northumberland,  who  was  Lord- High- Admi- 
ral of  England,  he  was  joined  presently  and  jointly 
with  Sir  William  Russell  in  the  office  of  Treasurer 
of  the  Navy  (a  place  of  great  trust  and  profit),  which 
he  equally  shared  with  the  other." ]  The  Ancient 
Palace  of  Westminster,  the  principal  scene  hence- 
forth of  Vane's  labors,  is  swept  away,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  Westminster  Hall.  What  the  House  of 
Commons  is  now,  it  was  outwardly,  in  all  substantial 
respects,  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago,  in  the  days 
of  the  Long  Parliament.  It  is  now  rather  more  than 
one  sixth  larger,  and,  since  1832,  elected  by  a  con- 
siderably broader  constituency.  In  its  general  ap- 
pearance and  bearing,  however,  its  ways  of  conduct- 
ing business,  its  relation  to  the  nation,  there  has  been 
no  great  change,  —  nor  since  the  earliest  days  has 
there  been  any  change  in  location.  As  the  police- 
man of  the  present  time  scrutinizes  you  for  dynamite 
at  the  entrance,  you  can  look  across  the  street  at  the 
Chapter-house  of  the  Abbey,  where  from  Simon  de 
Montfort's  days  until  the  Tudors,  Parliament  was 
cradled.  From  the  Stuart  times  and  before,  West- 
minster Hall  has  been  the  vestibule  —  the  outer 
promenade  and  meeting-place,  of  the  Commons.  The 
Central  Hall  and  corridor  of  the  statues  hold  the 
site  of  the  beautiful  St.  Stephen's  Chapel,  burned 
some  fifty  years  since,  which,  after  the  Chapter-house, 
became  the  Chamber  of  the  Commons.  St.  Ste- 
phen's Chapel  in  size  and  arrangement  closely  re- 

1  Clarendon,  History  of  the  Rebellion,  i.  293,  Boston  ed.  1827. 


98  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1640. 

sembled  the  present  Chamber  of  the  Commons.  Old 
pictures l  give  at  the  eastern  end  a  similar  throne  and 
canopy  for  the  Speaker,  behind  which  the  great  win- 
dow, just  over  the  river,  admitted  an  abundance  of 
morning  sun.  Just  as  now  stood  the  table  with  the 
mace.  The  members  sat  on  the  benches,  in  the  same 
free  and  easy  fashion.  Substitute  for  the  modern 
equivalents,  the  steeple-crowned  hat,  the  broad  linen 
collar  with  tasselled  strings  falling  in  front  of  the 
doublet,  the  knee-breeches  and  buckled  shoes,  and  as 
far  as  the  eye  goes  the  old  House  would  answer  to 
the  modern.  Just  so  they  filed  out  on  divisions,  as 
one  sees  them  now.  The  opposition  beset  Pym  with 
just  such  roaring  and  horse-play  as  Lord  Randolph 
encounters,  and  Speaker  Lenthall  cried  "  Order " 
like  his  successor,  Speaker  Peel.  When  Hampden 
rose,  the  most  illustrious  Englishman  of  his  day,  the 
same  hush  fell  as  always  meets  the  words  of  Glad- 
stone. And  now  let  us  go  back  to  that  struggle  of 
the  former  day,  whether  the  People  should  or  should 
not  have  a  say  in  the  government  of  England. 

When  the  Short  Parliament  assembled,  in  the 
spring  of  1640,  the  air  was  full  of  the  tumult  which 
was  to  make  the  next  twenty  years  so  stormy.  On 
the  i  yth  of  April,2  Pym  harangued  the  Commons  for 
two  hours,  every  sentence  moderate  but  firm.  He 
reviewed  at  length  the  political  grievances,  the  impo- 
sitions without  parliamentary  grant,  —  tonnage  and 
poundage,  ship-money,  coat  and  conduct-money,  as 
the  expense  of  clothing  new  raised  levies  was  called, 

1  See  the  representation  on  the        2  S.  R.  Gardiner,  Hist,  of  Eng. 
Great  Seal  of  the  Commonwealth,    ix.  98,  etc.' 
p.  368. 


1640.]    OPENING  OF  THE  LONG  PARLIAMENT.  99 

and  the  abuses  connected  with  the  management  of 
the  forests.  He  declared  that  the  highway  to  pre- 
ferment in  the  Church  was  to  preach  that  there  was 
divine  authority  for  an  absolute  power  in  the  King  to 
do  what  he  would  with  the  persons  and  goods  of  Eng- 
lishmen. He  inveighed  against  the  long  intromission 
of  Parliament.  The  most  memorable  declaration  of 
the  address  was  that  the  "  powers  of  Parliament  are 
to  the  body-politic  as  the  rational  faculties  of  the  soul 
to  a  man."  Charles  had  perhaps  scarcely,  like  Louis 
XIV,  conceived  that  he  himself  was  actually  the  state, 
but  felt  himself  to  be  at  any  rate  the  soul  of  the  body- 
politic.  As  the  Commons  in  the  lobbies  and  aisles, 
after  Pym  had  finished,  buzzed,  "  A  good  oration !  A 
good  oration  !  "  adopting  heartily  the  sentiments  to 
which  they  had  listened,  King  and  People  stood  in 
sharp  conflict.  The  Peers  sympathized  fully  with 
the  temper  of  the  Commons.  They  welcomed  the 
notion  that  Parliament  was  the  soul  of  the  body-pol- 
itic, and  in  hostility  to  the  Bishops  were  even  more 
earnest  than  the  Lower  House. 

When  Charles  asked  for  money,  Parliament  grew 
only  the  more  sullen,  declaring  that,  "  Till  the  liber- 
ties of  the  Houses  and  Kingdom  were  cleared,  they 
knew  not  whether  they  had  anything  to  give  or  no." 
In  the  Privy  Council  of  Charles  at  this  moment, 
Wentworth,  just  before  made  Earl  of  Straff ord,  stood 
in  especial  esteem.  He  was  honest  in  his  belief  that 
the  King  should  be  supreme,  and  as  difficulties  now 
thickened  about  Charles,  he  grew  fierce  in  urging  re- 
sistance.1 On  the  5th  of  May  Charles  summoned  his 

1  Gardiner,  ix.  p.  117. 


IOO  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1640. 

Council  at  six  in  the  morning.  The  elder  Vane,  Sec- 
retary of  State,  reported  that  there  was  no  hope  of  a 
grant  of  money  before  a  redress  of  grievances,  where- 
upon Charles,  hurrying  to  the  House  of  Lords,  dis- 
solved the  Parliament,  after  a  session  of  three  weeks. 

The  Short  Parliament  accomplished  no  act  of 
legislation,  but  it  marks  an  epoch.  It  announced 
through  Pym  that  Parliament  was  the  soul  of  the 
Commonwealth,  and  there  were  some  already  who 
sought  the  soul  in  the  Lower  House  alone.  "  It  was 
observed,"  says  Clarendon,  "  that  in  the  countenances 
of  those  who  had  most  opposed  all  that  was  desired 
by  his  Majesty,  there  was  a  marvellous  serenity ;  nor 
could  they  conceal  the  joy  of  their  hearts,  for  they 
knew  enough  of  what  was  to  come  to  conclude  that 
the  King  would  shortly  be  compelled  to  call  another 
Parliament." 

What  particular  part  young  Henry  Vane  took  in 
the  Short  Parliament  is  not  recorded.  Through 
friend  and  foe  we  know  that  he  was  already  a  marked 
man.  His  fellow-republican  Ludlow  writes 1  that  he 
was  elected  to  Parliament  without  effort  on  his  part, 
"  and  in  this  station  he  soon  made  appear  how  capa- 
ble he  was  of  managing  great  affairs,  possessing  in 
the  highest  perfection  a  quick  and  ready  apprehen- 
sion, a  strong  and  tenacious  memory,  a  profound  and 
penetrating  judgment,  a  just  and  graceful  eloquence, 
with  an  easy  and  graceful  manner  of  speaking.  To 
these  were  added  a  singular  zeal  and  affection  for  the 
good  of  the  Commonwealth,  and  a  resolution  and 
courage  not  to  be  shaken  or  diverted  from  the  pub- 

1  Memoirs,  p.  421,  ed.  1771,  folio. 


1640.]      OPENING   OF  THE  LONG  PARLIAMENT.         IOI 

lie  service."  Already  the  King  had  dignified  him 
by  setting  him  in  a  responsible  and  lucrative  office, 
and  others  knew  him  as  the  intimate  of  Pym  and 
Hampden.  We  may  suppose  that  the  young  man  sat 
in  his  place  from  eight  to  twelve,  the  hours  of  the  ses- 
sions, the  comeliness  which  Sir  Toby  Matthew  had 
commended  passing  now  into  the  power  and  dignity 
of  strong  manhood.  His  thoughts  possibly  recurred 
to  Councils  at  Vienna  at  which  he  had  been  present 
in  his  youth,  and  to  the  deliberations  in  little  Puritan 
Boston,  when  with  Winthrop,  Dudley,  Haynes,  and 
the  Magistrates  he  concerted  schemes  for  foiling  the 
Pequots,  or  fought  in  the  war  of  words  over  Anne 
Hutchinson.  How  different  here  the  place  and  the 
assembly,  —  the  picked  men  of  a  populous  kingdom 
gathered  in  a  stately  chamber !  Perhaps  in  the  long 
intromission  of  Parliament,  men  had  forgotten  some- 
what the  traditions  of  procedure.  "  Men  gazed  upon 
one  another  looking  who  should  begin,"  says  Claren- 
don. When  Pym  arose,  the  young  man's  eyes  must 
have  become  fastened  upon  the  features  of  the 
speaker,  as  the  eastern  sunlight  from  the  great  win- 
dow brought  them  out  plainly.  Pym  he  knew  well 
as  a  friend,  but  now  for  the  first  time  he  felt  the  full 
power  of  the  man.  The  eyes  of  Pym,  too,  may  have 
fallen  upon  the  marked  face  upturned  to  him,  the 
soul  kindling  upon  it  before  his  own  utterances  of 
freedom,  and  the  sight  may  well  have  afforded  him 
encouragement.  When  Pym  had  ended,  young 
Vane's  voice  was,  no  doubt,  in  the  heavy  murmur 
that  went  round  the  hall  —  "A  good  oration  !  " 
When  Parliament  was  dissolved,  though  one  can 


102  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1640. 

hardly  believe  that  young  Vane's  tendencies  were  un- 
known to  the  King,  honors  continued  to  fall  upon 
him.  Perhaps  with  the  idea  that  he  might  still  be 
won  to  his  side,  Charles  knighted  him  in  June,  and 
his  formal  title  henceforth  is  Sir  Henry  Vane  of 
Raby  Castle,  Knight,  —  Raby  Castle  having  now  be- 
come the  home  of  the  family.  The  Royalists  1  have 
asserted  that  in  spite  of  his  advancement  he  thought 
both  his  father  and  himself  ill-used  at  Court,  and 
from  now  forward  opposed  the  King  with  bitterness. 
Wentworth,  his  father's  enemy,  stood  high  in  favor, 
had  resisted  with  great  earnestness  making  his  father 
Secretary  of  State  which  the  Queen  had  recom- 
mended, and  delayed  the  appointment  for  a  month. 
It  was,  moreover,  a  great  insult  to  the  Vanes,  which 
Charles  had  negligently  permitted,  that  when  Went- 
worth, the  preceding  January,  had  been  raised  to  the 
peerage,  he  had  chosen  to  have  his  patent  made  out 
not  only  as  Earl  of  Strafford  but  as  "  Baron  of 
Raby." 2  It  is,  however,  utterly  unreasonable  to  sup- 
pose that  young  Vane's  course  was  influenced  by 
any  feeling  of  trifling  malice. 

As  unreasonable  is  a  stigma  which  his  enemies 
sought  to  attach  to  him,  that  he  was  lacking  in  phys- 
ical courage.  In  1653  appeared  a  burlesque  list  of 
books,  a  royalist  squib,  called  the  "  Bibliotheca  Parlia- 
ment!." One  title  runs  "  'E^a^)po$,  Newburn  Heath,  an 
excellent  Poem  in  Praise  of  one  Pair  of  Legs,  by  Sir 
Henry  Vane,  Jr." 3  A  note,  added  by  a  Royalist  by 

1  Biographia  Britannica,  article     of  the  Reign  of  Charles  7,  pp.  123, 
"Vane."  124. 

2  Sir  Philip  Warwick,  Memoirs        8  Somers  Tracts,  vii.  92. 


1640.]     OPENING   OF  THE  LONG  PARLIAMENT.         103 

way  of  explanation,  says  that  Vane,  though  brave  as 
a  politician,  was  devoid  of  physical  courage,  and  fairly 
fled  at  the  skirmish  at  Newburn.  Newburn  skirmish 
took  place  August  28th  of  this  year,  not  far  from  the 
Scottish  border,  the  forces  of  the  King,  without  food, 
discipline,  or  leadership,  fleeing  incontinently  when 
encountered  by  the  Scots.  There  is  a  bare  possi- 
bility that  young  Vane  was  present.  Though  he  was 
the  friend  of  Pym  and  Hampden,  neither  they  nor 
any  one  had  as  yet  broken  with  the  King.  In  1637, 
he  favored  in  New  England  a  cespect  for  the  King's 
sovereignty,  and  recently  he  had  accepted  knighthood 
and  high  preferment  from  Charles.  If  at  Raby  Cas- 
tle during  the  summer,  it  is  quite  possible  he  went 
northward  in  the  King's  train  to  the  scene  of  the 
skirmish,  and  if  he  took  part,  ran  with  the  rest.  But 
there  was  no  discredit,  under  the  circumstances.  As 
the  story  proceeds,  abundant  evidence  will  appear 
that  his  courage  was  of  the  best.  Burnet  accuses 
him  of  cowardice,  but  Burnet's  editor  gives  a  most 
curious  but  most  incontrovertible  proof  of  Vane's 
intrepidity.1 

After  the  dissolution  of  Parliament,  things  during 
the  summer  rapidly  went  from  bad  to  worse.  Con- 
vocation, the  assembled  clergy,  which  remained  in 
session,  disgusted  the  aroused  nation  with  a  new  as- 
sertion of  the  doctrine  that  Kings  reigned  supreme 
by  divine  right.  It  was  hopeless  to  expect  that  the 
King  would  return  to  constitutional  ways,  and  the 
feeling  was  general  that  he  was  tampering  with 
Catholics  at  home  and  abroad.  Straff ord  had  now 

1  Burnet,  Hist,  of  his  own  Times,  i.  p.  280,  note. 


104  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1640. 

more  influence  with  the  King  than  all  the  rest  of  the 
Council  put  together.  He  had  recently,  in  Ireland, 
been  prostrated  by  gout  and  dysentery,  and  reached 
London  in  a  litter;  but  his  unconquerable  will 
caused  him  to  make  light  of  ailments.  In  May, 
however,  his  life  was  despaired  of.  He  grew  a  little 
better,  and  was  .visited  by  the  King,  whom,  in  his 
punctilious  loyalty,  he  insisted  upon  receiving  in 
proper  attire,  discarding  the  warm  gown  he  had  been 
wearing.  A  relapse  carried  him  again  to  death's 
door.  From  his  bed,  nevertheless,  he  made  his  in- 
fluence felt,  and  as  he  found  himself  in  the  summer 
once  more  on  his  feet,  he  pressed  things  with  energy. 
He  took  the  lead  in  the  high-handed  compulsion  that 
was  to  force  out  money  from  the  kingdom.  He 
sought  for  a  loan  of  £300,000  from  Spain ;  he  advo- 
cated a  debasement  of  the  coinage.  Attempts,  too, 
were  made  to  obtain  help  from  Genoa  and  France ; 
and  the  Queen,  with  Marie  de  Medici,  her  mother, 
besought  the  Pope  for  men  and  means,  an  attempt 
which  the  King  did  not  thwart,  if  he  did  not  connive 
at  it,  and  the  rumor  of  which  thrilled  the  nation  with 
disgust  and  terror.  A  levy  of  Danish  horse  was 
thought  of.  Worst  of  all,  Strafford,  now  comman- 
der-in-chief,  was  authorized  by  his  patent  to  bring 
the  Irish  army  into  England.  At  length  Edinburgh 
Castle  was  lost,  and  it  became  indispensable  to  make 
some  arrangement  with  the  Scots.  By  a  treaty  with 
them  at  Ripon,  they  were  promised  £850  a  day,  and 
the  King  in  his  distress  gave  notice  to  a  Great  Coun- 
cil of  his  Peers,  convened  at  York  in  September, 
that  before  the  autumn  ended  a  new  Parliament 


1640.]     OPENING   OF  THE  LONG  PARLIAMENT.         105 

should  assemble.  On  November  3  met  the  Long 
Parliament,  the  greatest  in  history,  and  in  it  young 
Vane  sat  once  more  for  Kingston  upon  Hull. 

We  know  to  some  extent,  through  the  invaluable 
diary  of  Sir  Symonds  d'Ewes,1  how  the  members 
arranged  themselves  as  they  gathered  in  the  dull 
autumn  weather  at  Westminster.  Speaker  Lenthall 
sat,  of  course,  under  his  canopy,  before  the  great 
eastern  window,  the  clerk  and  assistant  clerk  in 
front,  the  latter  John  Rushworth,  whose  bulky  folios 
garner  the  documents  of  the  time.  Pym  sat  on  the 
Speaker's  left,  some  distance  down  the  hall ;  between 
him  and  Lenthall  were  Edmund  Waller,  Denzil 
Holies,  Henry  Marten,  and  Oliver  St.  John,  charac- 
ters with  some  of  whom  henceforth  we  shall  be  much 
concerned.  On  the  opposite  side,  near  the  Speaker, 
were  Edward  Hyde,  afterwards  the  famous  Earl  of 
Clarendon,  his  friend  Lord  Falkland,  and  Sir  Henry 
Vane,  Senior;  these  were  close  together.  Not  far 
off,  on  the  same  side,  were  Strode  and  Alderman 
Pennington,  contenders  for  freedom,  and  the  rough 
country  member  for  Huntington,  Oliver  Cromwell. 
John  Selden,  scholar,  free-thinker,  mocker  in  a  re- 
fined way  both  of  Cavalier  loyalty  and  Roundhead 
fanaticism,  was  under  the  gallery  near  the  western 
end.  Sir  Arthur  Haselrig  sat  in  the  gallery.  Young 
Henry  Vane,  it  is  said,  was  on  the  south  side,  near 
St.  John  and  Marten.  As  he  rose  to  speak,  the  light 
from  the  great  window  over  the  river  would  have 
poured  upon  him  from  the  right.  His  venerated 
friend  and  mentor,  Pym,  would  have  been  upon  his 

1  Preserved  in  the  British  Museum,  in  manuscript. 


106  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1640. 

left,  and  he  must  have  looked  full  in  the  faces  of  his 
father,  Cromwell,  Hyde,  and  Falkland,  on  the  benches 
opposite,  a  few  feet  distant,  just  across  the  table 
which  held  the  mace.  One  can  construct,  in  imagi- 
nation, a  picture  of  the  assembly,  500  in  number,  in 
pointed  hat  and  belted  doublet,  knee-breeches  and 
buckled  shoe,  —  some,  high-born  men,  sons  and  kins- 
men of  Dukes  and  Earls ;  some,  London  Aldermen, 
with  badges  of  civic  distinction ;  some,  provincial 
Burgesses  and  Knights-of-the-shire, —  gathering  under 
the  rich,  ecclesiastical  architecture ;  while  the  popu- 
lace of  London,  drawn  by  the  unusual  sight,  crossing 
the  fields  past  Whitehall,  or  brought  by  the  water- 
men when  the  tide  flowed,  from  Wapping,  Billings- 
gate, or  Blackfriars,  thronged  Old  Palace  Yard,  as  the 
members  entered  to  take  their  seats. 

Future  Cavalier  as  well  as  future  Roundhead  felt 
that  all  had  gone  wrong.  No  Parliament  since  the 
days  of  Simon  de  Montfort  had  reflected  so  accurately 
the  people  whom  it  represented.  As  yet,  the  King 
was  mentioned  only  in  terms  of  respect,  Laud  and 
Straff ord  being  alone  marks  of  execration,  the  coun- 
sellors through  whom  the  gracious  Sovereign  was 
believed  to  have  been  misled.  Pvm  was  the  recosr- 

*  o 

nized  leader  of  the  Commons.  Hampden  in  Parlia- 
ment did  little  more  than  second  him,  speaking  so 
seldom  and  so  briefly  that  it  is  not  easy  to  under- 
stand why  his  weight  was  so  great.  Great,  however, 
it  was,  no  man  in  England  counting  with  the  nation 
for  so  much.  Pym  in  temper  was  purely  conserva- 
tive, desiring  to  introduce  nothing  and  overturn 
nothing,  but  simply  to  maintain  constitutional  prin. 


1640.]     OPENING   OF    THE  LONG  PARLIAMENT.         107 

ciples  in  danger  of  overthrow.  He  had  the  civic 
temper,  looking  for  wisdom  in  the  result  of  common 
debate,  rather  than  in  one  supereminent  mind.1 

The  opening  session  of  the  Long  Parliament  was  a 
long  outburst  of  complaint.  Exaggerated  fears  pre- 
vailed of  a  conspiracy,  the  aim  of  which  was  to  lay 
England  at  the  feet  of  the  Pope.  Let  us  remove 
from  the  King  his  evil  counsellors,  was  the  cry,  and 
at  once  Laud  and  Strafford  were  called  to  account, 
together  with  certain  associates  of  inferior  mark. 
We  can  touch  but  briefly  upon  the  crowding  events 
of  this  great  period.  We  reach  now,  however,  what 
is  probably  the  most  important  trial  that  ever  took 
place  in  any  court  of  the  English-speaking  race ;  and 
since  young  Sir  Henry  Vane  first  made  himself 
known  in  it  to  the  world  in  general,  becoming  the 
principal  instrument,  in  fact,  through  whom  Straf- 
ford's  head  was  laid  low,  the  main  facts  must  be  given 
—  facts  of  interest  to-day,  in  America,  in  Australia, 
or  wherever  the  English  tongue  extends,  for  had 
Strafford  escaped,  it  would  be  easy  to  show  that 
English,  and,  therefore,  American  freedom,  would 
have  been  crushed  out  by  the  high  hand,  as  in  Spain 
and  France. 

1  Gardiner,  ix.  224. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE    TRIAL    OF    STRAFFORD. 

THOMAS  WENTWORTH,  Earl  of  Strafford,  was  at  this 
time  forty-eight  years  old,  a  man  of  Cambridge  edu- 
cation, accomplished  by  foreign  travel,  of  wealth  and 
distinguished  birth.  Since  the  age  of  twenty-one  he 
had  been  a  statesman,  leading  the  Commons  in  op- 
position to  the  policy  of  James  I,  with  oratory  bril- 
liant and  charged,  apparently,  with  zeal  for  freedom. 
In  1626  he  had  been  imprisoned  with  Hampden  for 
refusing  to  pay  illegal  taxes.  In  1628  he  had  con- 
spicuously advocated  the  Petition  of  Right.  How 
had  it  come  about  that  in  1640  he  stood  on  such 
different  ground,  coupled  with  Laud  as  the  main 
bulwark  of  tyranny,  and  nick-named  "  Black  Tom 
Tyrant "  ?  A  noble  portrait  of  Strafford  by  Van- 
dyke hangs  in  Warwick  Castle.  It  presents  a  swarthy 
but  handsome  face,  marked  by  sensibility  and  energy  ; 
the  dark  eyes,  in  particular,  strike  the  beholder  as 
being  the  outlook  of  a  generous,  impetuous  soul, 
while  they  possess  a  certain  pensiveness,  as  if  a  ter- 
rible fate  were  presaged.  It  is  the  front  of  a  man 
endowed  with  power,  and  not  at  all  ignoble  of  pur- 
pose. In  fact,  no  great  man  ever  meant  better  for 
his  land  or  kind  than  Strafford,  and  yet  English  free- 


1640.]  THE   TRIAL   OF  STRAFFORD.  IOQ 

dom  was  saved  when  he  was  brought  to  the  block.  In 
all  probability,  though  Strafford  in  his  earlier  career 
is  found  at  first  on  the  side  of  the  nation  as  repre- 
sented in  the  House  of  Commons,  and  at  last  against 
the  nation,  he  thoroughly  believed  that  not  he  but 
the  House  of  Commons  had  changed.1  In  his  idea 
the  People  were  to  have  part  in  the  government,  but 
to  counsel  and  cooperate,  not  to  control.  "  Princes," 
he  said,  "  are  to  be  indulgent  nursing  fathers  to  their 
people.  .  .  .  Subjects,  on  the  other  side,  ought  with 
solicitous  eyes  of  jealousy  to  watch  over  the  preroga- 
tives of  a  crown.  The  authority  of  the  King  is  a 
key-stone  which  closeth  up  the  arch  of  order  and 
government,  which  contains  each  part  in  due  relation 
to  the  whole,  and  which  once  shaken  and  infirmed, 
all  the  frame  falls  together  into  a  confused  heap  of 
foundation  and  battlement."  He  felt  more  and  more 
as  his  life  advanced,  that  in  the  maintenance  and 
elevation  of  the  royal  authority  lay  the  only  safe 
path.  He  looked  to  Henry  II,  Edward  I,  Henry 
VIII,  and  Elizabeth  for  his  precedents,  —  Sovereigns 
guiding  a  willing  people,  and  found  no  mention  of  a 
dominant  House  of  Commons,  reducing  the  Sov- 
ereign to  insignificancy.  He  had  no  confidence  in 
the  common-sense  of  ordinary  citizens.  After  Straf- 
ford became  privy  councillor,  in  1629,  came  a  series 
of  measures,  no  doubt  to  be  traced  to  him,  aiming  at 
the  protection  of  the  helpless  and  the  general  benefit 
of  the  People.2  So,  constantly,  as  he  grew  in  power, 
good  flowed  from  his  arbitrariness,  for  he  struggled 
against  wealth  and  position  in  behalf  of  justice. 

1  Gardiner,  vii.  26.  2  Ibid.  160. 


HO  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1640. 

Believing  that  in  a  proper  state  there  must  be  a 
supreme  guiding  mind  in  order  that  the  popular 
welfare  should  be  secured,  that  the  King  might  "  use, 
as  the  common  parent  of  the  country,  what  power 
God  Almighty  hath  given  him  for  preserving  himself 
and  his  people,  for  whom  he  is  accountable  to 
Almighty  God,"  he  had  utterly  parted  from  his  old 
associates,  saying  of  Hampden  in  the  ship-money 
case :  "  I  would  have  him  whipped  into  his  right 
senses ;  and  if  the  rod  be  so  used  that  it  smart  not 
I  should  be  the  more  sorry."  From  President  of  the 
Council  of  the  North,  a  tribunal  established  in  the 
disturbed  times  of  Henry  VIII,  with  large  powers, 
he  became  Lord-Deputy  of  Ireland,  and  at  length 
the  chief  councillor  of  Charles,  whom  he  tried  to  make 
absolute,  succeeding  in  the  effort  as  far  as  Ireland 
was  concerned.  His  ability  was  wonderful,  and  to  a 
large  extent  also  beneficent.  As  an  autocratic  mili- 
tary governor,  his  hand  was  heavy,  but  it  led  a 
degraded  population  to  wiser  and  happier  ways  of 
living. 

When  in  the  autumn  of  1640,  Straff ord,  in  com- 
mand of  the  army  opposing  the  Scots,  found  that  in 
spite  of  his  advice  Parliament  was  to  meet,  he  tried 
to  go  to  Ireland,  but  the  King  sent  for  him,  assuring 
him  (and  in  this  assurance  the  Queen,  who  had  been 
no  friend  of  his,  joined)  "  that  he  should  not  suffer  in 
his  person,  honor,  or  fortune."  Pym  was  no  wiser  in 
his  view  of  Strafford  than  men  in  general.  He  was 
not  in  Pym's  eyes l  "  a  high-minded  -masterful  states- 
man, erring  through  defect  in  temper  and  knowl- 

1  Gardiner,  ix.  229. 


1640.]  THE    TRIAL   OF  STRAFFORD.  1 1  I 

edge,"  but  the  black-browed  apostate  who  was  be- 
traying liberty  through  avarice  and  ambition.  Clar- 
endon reports  that  Pym  said  to  him  while  walking 
in  Westminster  Hall  at  the  opening  of  Parliament, 
"  that  they  must  now  be  of  another  temper  than  they 
were  the  last  Parliament ;  that  they  must  not  only 
sweep  the  House  clean  below,  but  must  pull  down 
all  the  cobwebs  which  hung  in  the  top  and  corners." 
When  the  assembly,  therefore,  "  of  sad  and  melan- 
cholic appearance,"  debated  in  St.  Stephen's  Chapel 
their  grievances,  Pym  denounced  Strafford  at  once 
as  "  the  fountain  whence  these  waters  of  bitterness 
flowed."  Others  followed  in  the  same  strain.  Not 
a  voice  was  raised  against  bringing  him  straightway 
to  judgment,  except  that  of  Falkland,  by  no  means 
his  friend,  who  only  counselled  against  haste.  Pym 
said  that  promptness  was  indispensable,  and  he  was 
well  advised. 

As  the  Parliament  leaders  misjudged  Strafford,  so 
Strafford  misjudged  them,  believing  them  misguided 
and  seditious.  He  had  reached  London,  November 
9,  and  urged  Charles  to  accuse  the  Parliament  lead- 
ers at  once  of  treason,  as  abetting  the  invasion  of  the 
Scots.  The  nth  was  fixed  upon  as  the  day.  The 
Earl  was  in  his  place,  but  for  some  reason,  most 
likely  because  the  King  faltered,1  he  did  not  make 
the  charge  when  it  might  have  been  done,  and  mean- 
time his  enemies  pressed  on.  The  doors  of  the 
House  of  Commons  were  locked  that  none  might 
interrupt,  and  soon  Pym,  unanimously  deputed  to 
carry  up  the  impeachment  to  the  House  of  Lords, 

1  Gardiner,  ix.  233. 


112  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY   VANE.  [1640. 

walked  toward  their  Hall,  attended  by  most  of  the 
members.  About  3  in  the  afternoon,  Strafford, 
whose  feeble  condition  kept  him  from  being  prompt, 
entered  the  House  of  Lords,  to  find  them  debating 
the  unusual  demand  of  the  Commons,  that  he,  who 
had  thought  to  impeach  their  leaders,  should  be 
himself  immediately  imprisoned,  pending  a  definite 
charge.  He  strode  haughtily  toward  his  seat,  but 
his  fellow-Peers,  who  were  as  bitter  toward  him  as 
the  Commons,  shouted,  "  Withdraw !  "  He  complied, 
and  was  at  once  "  sequestered  "  from  his  place  and 
committed  to  Maxwell,  the  usher  of  the  Black  Rod, 
who  took  away  his  sword  and  brought  him  in  as  a 
prisoner.  He  was  forced  to  hear  the  decision  upon 
his  knees  from  the  Lord  Keeper  sitting  upon  the 
wool-sack.  As  he  was  led  away  in  custody,  the 
crowd  outside  were  equally  pitiless,  "  no  man  cap- 
ping to  him,  before  whom  that  morning  the  greatest 
in  England  would  have  stood  discovered." 

It  was  an  act  of  self-preservation.  The  belief  was 
general,  entertained  by  Pym  as  well  as  by  the  mass, 
in  a  terrible  plot  to  lay  England  at  the  feet  of  the 
Pope.  Most  of  the  English  Catholics,  to  be  sure, 
were  terrified  on  their  side,  and  really  wished  nothing 
so  much  as  to  be  let  alone.  There  were,  however, 
Catholic  intriguers ;  and  the  foolish  and  spirited 
Queen  and  her  mother  were  constantly  planning  with 
priests  who  were  tolerated  at  Whitehall  to  bring 
money  and  an  army  from  the  Pope,  to  amalgamate 
once  more  the  churches  of  England  and  Rome,  and 
to  carry  England  back  into  the  ancient  spiritual 
bondage.  It  being  resolved  to  remove  Catholics 


1 640.]  THE   TRIAL   OF  STR AFFORD.  113 

from  the  neighborhood  of  Westminster,  a  justice  of 
the  peace  charged  with  carrying  out  the  order  was 
stabbed  in  Westminster  Hall  itself.  The  wound  was 
slight,  and  the  assailant  probably  crazy,  but  the  panic 
was  great,  and  Alderman  Pennington,  a  London 
deputy,  offered  Parliament  a  guard  of  citizens. 

Pym's  committee  were  diligent  in  collecting  evi- 
dence and  formulating  charges  against  Strafford,  so 
that  on  November  25  Strafford  in  due  form  was 
sent  to  the  Tower  as  having  tried  to  overturn  the 
constitution  and  introduce  arbitrary  government  by 
force  of  arms.  "  As  to  myself,"  wrote  the  victim  to 
his  wife,  "  albeit  all  be  done  against  me  that  art  and 
malice  can  devise,  yet  I  am  in  great  inward  quietness, 
and  a  strong  belief  God  will  deliver  me  out  of  all 
these  troubles.  ...  If  there  be  any  honor  and  justice 
left,  my  life  will  not  be  in  danger.  .  .  .  Therefore 
hold  up  your  heart,  look  to  the  children  and  your 
house,  let  me  have  your  prayers,  and  at  last,  by  God's 
good  pleasure,  we  shall  have  our  deliverance,  when 
we  may  as  little  look  for  it  as  we  did  for  this  blow  of 
misfortune  which  I  trust  will  make  us  better  to  God 
and  man." 1 

Meantime  the  course  of  events  constantly  widened 
the  gulf  between  the  King  and  Parliament.  Mainly 
through  the  vehement  urgency  of  Falkland,  sup- 
ported by  Hyde,  men  whom  the  drift  of  things  was 
to  carry  before  long  to  the  side  of  Charles,  ship- 
money  was  declared  illegal,  and  the  judges  con. 
demned  who  had  on  their  part  condemned  Hampden. 
Laud  at  length  was  declared  the  "  root  and  ground 

1  Gardiner,  ix.  241. 


114  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1640. 

of  all  our  miseries."  If  the  "  fundamental  laws  of 
England  "  meant  the  supremacy  of  Parliament,  Laud 
was  as  guilty  as  Strafford  ;  he  was  perhaps,  though 
a  far  weaker  man,  equally  high-minded  and  honest, 
and  on  December  18  he  followed  Strafford  through 
the  gloomy  Traitor's  gate. 

On  December  24,  the  important  bill  was  brought 
in  providing  for  a  Parliament  every  year,  whether 
the  King  issued  the  writs  for  the  elections  or  not, 
and  a  day  or  two  after  a  little  known  member  made 
a  speech  concerning  whom  we  have  the  following 
vivid  account :  — 

"  I  have  no  mind  to  give  an  ill  character  of  Crom- 
well, for  in  his  conversation  toward  me  he  was  ever 
friendly ;  though  at  the  latter  end  of  the  day  finding 
me  ever  incorrigible  and  having  some  inducements  to 
suspect  me  a  tamperer,  he  was  sufficiently  rigid.  The 
first  time  that  I  ever  took  notice  of  him,  was  in  the 
very  beginning  of  the  Parliament  held  in  November, 
1640,  when  I  vainly  thought  myself  a  courtly  young 
gentleman ;  for  we  courtiers  valued  ourselves  much 
upon  our  good  clothes.  I  came  one  morning  into 
the  house  well-clad,  and  perceived  a  gentleman 
speaking,  (whom  I  knew  not)  very  ordinarily  appar- 
elled, for  it  was  a  plain  cloth  suit,  which  seemed  to 
have  been  made  by  an  ill  country  tailor ;  his  linen 
was  plain  and  not  very  clean,  and  I  remember  a 
speck  or  two  of  blood  upon  his  little  band,  which 
was  not  much  larger  than  his  collar ;  his  hat  was 
without  a  hat-band,  his  stature  was  of  a  good  size, 
his  sword  stuck  close  to  his  side,  his  countenance 
swolen  and  reddish,  his  voice  sharp  and  untuneable, 


1640.]  THE   TRIAL   OF  STRAFFORD.  115 

and  his  eloquence  full  of  fervor,  for  the  subject- 
matter  would  not  bear  much  of  reason ;  it  being  in 
behalf  of  a  servant  of  Mr.  Pym's  who  had  dispersed 
libels  against  the  Queen  for  her  dancing,  and  such 
like  innocent  and  Courtly  sports  ;  and  he  aggravated 
the  imprisonment  of  this  man  by  the  council-table 
unto  that  height,  that  would  have  believed  the  very 
government  itself,  had  been  in  great  danger  by  it.  I 
sincerely  profess  it  lessened  much  my  reverence  unto 
that  great  council,  for  he  was  very  much  hearkened 
unto."1 

Up  to  this  time  there  had  been  in  Parliament  a 
remarkable  unanimity.  We  see  Hyde  and  Falkland, 
the  one  destined  to  be  chief  counsellor  of  the  Stuarts, 
the  other  a  martyr  in  their  cause,  as  zealous  to  do 
away  with  ship-money  as  the  most  radical.  Capel, 
too,  one  day  to  be  beheaded  before  Westminster 
Hall  for  faithful  service  of  the  Sovereign  he  now  op- 
posed, was  foremost  in  uttering  the  discontent  of  the 
Lords  because  Strafford  was  slow  in  answering  the 
charges  preferred.  The  unanimity  was  political  more 
than  religious,  and  in  these  seething  days  came  the 
beginning  of  the  quarrel  that  was  to  drive  apart 
many  now  friends.  The  Londoners,  among  whom 
there  was  a  strong  set  towards  Presbyterianism,  had 
petitioned  that  Episcopacy  might  be  destroyed  "  root 
and  branch,"  and  the  Root  and  Branch  party  now 
began  to  show  signs  of  vigor.  Petitions  of  similar 
purport  came  also  from  Essex  and  Kent.  Separa- 
tists, too,  a  little  company  of  whom  twenty  years  be- 
fore had  gone  in  the  "  Mayflower  "  to  found  Ply- 

1  Sir  Philip  Warwick,  Memoirs  of  the  Reign  of  Charles  /,  273,  etc. 


Il6  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY   VANE.  [1641. 

mouth,  were  active  and  found  countenance  among 
those  high  in  rank,  —  three  or  four  Peers,  among 
them  probably  Lord  Say  and  Sele  and  Lord  Brooke,1 
being  present  at  their  meeting  in  Deadman's  Place, 
Southwark.  From  this  party,  now  so  insignificant, 
the  powerful  Independents  were  soon  to  develop. 
On  February  8,  the  London  Petition  was  debated, 
Pym,  Hampden,  Vane,  St.  John,  and  Holies  regard- 
ing it  with  favor,  —  Hyde,  Colepeper,  and  Hopton 
speaking  against,  as  well  as  Digby  and  Falkland.2 
Those  opposing  wished  to  limit  Episcopacy,  but  not 
abolish  it.  It  seemed  now  an  affair  of  slight  moment, 
but  it  was  to  swallow  up  everything  else. 

While  Strafford  delayed  and  Parliament  used  the 
interval  in  legislation  and  discussion  that  constantly 
put  the  Houses  farther  from  the  King,  there  was  ac- 
tivity at  the  Court,  too,  and  the  mystery  about  it,  with 
the  imperfect  hints  that  transpired,  kept  the  world 
on  the  brink  of  panic.  The  Queen  .and  Queen- 
mother  forever  solicited  the  Pope  for  money  and 
men,  and  all  might  have  been  obtained  if  Charles 
could  have  turned  Catholic.  The  marriage  was  ar- 
ranged between  Prince  William  of  Orange  and  the 
Princess  Mary ;  and  the  Queen-mother  declared  to 
the  papal  legate  that  the  Prince  was  to  bring  with 
him  twenty  thousand  men,  that  Strafford  was  then 
to  be  freed  and  put  at  the  head  of  the  government, 
and  that  France  and  Ireland  would  not  be  wanting. 
The  army  of  the  North,  too,  that  had  been  acting 
against  the  Scots,  was  to  the  nation  a  cause  of  fear. 
In  the  uncertainties  all  seemed  most  critical.  It  was 

1  Gardiner,  ix.  267.  *  Ibid.  287. 


1641.]  THE   TRIAL   OF  STRAFFORD.  1 1  7 

really  not  the  thirst  for  vengeance,  but  the  pitiless- 
ness  of  terror,1  which  drove  Parliament  so  vehe- 
mently in  the  pursuit  of  the  man  in  whom  all  the 
vague  danger  centred. 

The  story  of  the  trial  of  Strafford  needs  not  to 
be  told  here  except  in  so  far  as  it  concerns  young  Sir 
Henry  Vane.  Passing  into  the  House  of  Commons, 
one  evening,  the  present  writer  paused  in  the  corridor 
and  looked  into  the  great  dim  space  of  Westminster 
Hall,  whose  gloom  seemed  only  the  more  heavy 
against  the  single  light  that  struggled  with  its  dark- 
ness. One  could  make  out  the  long  west  side  against 
which  on  that  22d  of  March,  when  Strafford  was 
brought  to  judgment,  stood  the  empty  throne,  the 
spot  in  front  where  sat  the  Earl  of  Arundel,  the 
presiding  officer,  and  the  place  still  in  front  of  that 
where  Strafford  fought  for  his  life.  The  Lords  in 
their  robes,  his  judges,  sat  between  him  and  Arundel. 
Close  at  hand  to  him  were  Pym  and  the  other  man- 
agers of  the  prosecution  appointed  by  the  Commons, 
his  own  lawyers,  and  to  the  right  and  left  on  either 
side  the  five  hundred  members  of  the  Commons,  the 
visitors  who  could  gain  admittance  by  money  or  fa- 
vor, and  the  Scottish  Commissioners  :  among  the  lat- 
ter sat  the  quaint  old  covenanter  Baillie,  watching  all 
with  canny  eye,  that  he  might  give  a  graphic  report 
of  it  to  his  "  presbytery  of  Irvine  "  as  he  did  of  many 
another  great  scene  of  those  stormy  times,  thus  mak- 
ing a  record  which  now  has  the  utmost  value.  There 
was  "  a  close  box  at  one  end  at  a  very  convenient 

1  Gardiner,  ix.  294. 


Il8  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY   VANE.  [1641. 

distance  for  hearing,  in  which  the  King  and  Queen 
sat  untaken  notice  of."  l  Not  quite,  for  the  first  act 
of  Charles  was  to  tear  down  the  lattice  that  screened 
him  in  front.  All  saw  that  he  was  there,  though, 
since  the  throne  was  vacant,  he  was  technically  ab- 
sent, and  the  judicial  function  of  the  Peers  was  not 
restrained.  A  man  of  sensibility  cannot  look  upon 
Westminster  Hall  to-day  without  feeling  his  heart 
beat  quick. 

The  general  charge  was  of  an  "  endeavor  to  over- 
throw the  fundamental  government  of  the  kingdom 
and  to  introduce  an  arbitrary  power."  Strafford,  his 
hair  streaked  with  gray,  his  figure  weakened  by  dis- 
ease, but  infused  with  vigor  from  his  lion-soul,  strug- 
gled powerfully  against  his  accusers  amid  the  rapt 
multitude.  The  solemn  tones  of  Pym,  thrilled  with  the 
conviction  that  the  welfare  of  England  was  trembling 
in  the  balance,  rose  in  opposition.  Glyn  and  May- 
nard,  subtle  lawyers,  whom  we  shall  meet  again  at 
Westminster  upon  an  occasion  not  less  tragic,  were 
ready  here  with  their  cunning.  The  elder  Vane  cast 
in  his  word  toward  the  destruction  of  his  enemy ;  a 
few  voices,  but  very  few,  were  friendly  to  the  pris- 
oner. 

At  the  outset  a  difficulty  was  encountered  in  mak- 
ing out  a  case  of  treason  against  Strafford.  Trea- 
son, as  understood  through  all  past  English  history, 
had  been  a  name  given  to  acts  against  the  person 
and  authority  of  the  Sovereign.  Pym  sought  to 
broaden  the  signification  of  the  word,  making  it  any 
undermining  of  the  laws  which  constitute  the  Sov- 

1  Clarendon,  i.  330. 


1641.]  THE   TRIAL   OF  STRAFFORD.  1 19 

ereign's  greatness.  It  seemed  to  many  like  an  unjust 
stretching  of  the  meaning,  and  Strafford's  vigorous 
defence  told  powerfully.  Women  were  moved,  and 
many  of  the  Peers,  however  they  may  have  felt  that 
the  course  of  the  Earl  was  wrong,  began  to  think  he 
could  not  properly  be  called  a  traitor.  A  stage  of 
the  trial  was  at  length  reached,  when  the  Commons, 
incensed  at  the  Peers  for  their  slowness,  although 
the  student  at  the  present  day  must  feel  that  the 
Peers  were  doing  their  best  to  proceed  with  a  proper 
judicial  temper,1  rose  in  fury,  with  loud  shouts  of 
" '  Withdraw ! '  got  all  to  their  feet,  cocked  their 
beavers  in  the  King's  sight.  We  all  feared  it  should 
go  to  a  present  tumult.  They  went  all  away  in  con- 
fusion. Strafford  slipt  away  to  his  barge  and  to  the 
Tower,  glad  to  be  gone  lest  he  should  be  torn  in 
pieces.  The  King  went  home  in  silence ;  the  Lords 
to  their  house." 2 

The  unusual  step  which  the  Commons  now  took 
was  made  possible  by  the  violence  of  the  partisans  of 
the  King.  During  the  weeks  of  their  session,  Par- 
liament had  succeeded  in  coming  to  a  good  under- 
standing with  the  Scotch  army  at  the  North,  but  at 
the  same  time  had  enraged  the  English  army,  lately 
opposed  to  the  Scots,  by  neglecting  what  the  troops 
felt  to  be  their  proper  requirements.  A  plot  had 
been  formed  to  which  Charles  had  listened,  for 
bringing  the  disaffected  army  to  his  assistance,  a 
plot  promptly  betrayed  to  Pym  by  the  scoundrel 
Goring,  an  officer  of  high  rank,  whom  the  reader  of 
Clarendon  will  remember  as  the  subject  of  one  of  his 

1  Gardiner,  ix.  327.        2  Baillie,  Letters  and  Journals,  i.  289,  290. 


120  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1641. 

most  finished  characterizations.  The  Irish  army  was 
also  at  hand,  —  the  rumors  went  on  of  Papal  help 
from  France  and  Rome,  of  Catholic  risings  at  home, 
and  of  an  army  of  Dutch  to  attend  the  Prince  of 
Orange,  who  was  about  to  appear  in  England  as  the 
bridegroom  of  the  Princess  Mary.  No  stone  must 
be  left  unturned,  the  leaders  felt ;  and  as  the  Com- 
mons sat  in  St.  Stephen's  Chapel,  angry  over  the 
punctiliousness  of  the  Peers,  through  which  the 
prisoner  seemed  so  likely  to  escape,  it  was  resolved 
to  use  an  instrument  the  leaders  would  fain  have 
spared.  Young  Vane  now  comes  in  with  important 
evidence  —  evidence  which,  says  Baillie,  "for  young 
Sir  Harry's  cause,  a  very  gracious  youth,  they  re- 
solved to  make  no  use  in  public  of  as  testimony, 
except  in  case  of  necessity." 1  So  far,  the  most  im- 
portant evidence  adduced  had  been  that  of  the  elder 
Vane,  who  declared  that  Strafford  had  said  in  a 
council  just  after  the  dissolution  of  the  obstinate 
Short  Parliament : 2  "  Sir,  you  have  now  done  your 
duty  and  your  subjects  have  failed  in  theirs,  and 
therefore  you  are  absolved  from  the  rules  of  govern- 
ment, and  may  supply  yourself  by  extraordinary 
ways ;  you  must  prosecute  the  war  vigorously ;  you 
have  an  army  in  Ireland  with  which  you  may  reduce 
this  Kingdom."  Strafford  denied  the  words,  alleged 
the  enmity  toward  him  of  Sir  Henry  Vane,  and  pro- 
tested that,  at  any  rate,  no  weight  ought  to  be  attached 
to  the  unsupported  testimony  of  a  single  witness. 
He  urged,  moreover,  that  even  if  it  could  be  proved 
that  he  had  spoken  the  words,  no  charge  of  treason 

1  Letters  and  Journals,  i.  289.  2  Clarendon,  i.  337,  etc. 


1641.]  THE   TRIAL   OF  STRAFFORD.  121 

could  be  based  upon  them,  for  the  Privy  Council  had 
been  talking  of  Scotland,  not  England.  Seventeen 
days  had  thus  passed,  when  at  last  "  there  was  a  very 
remarkable  passage  of  which  the  pretence  was  to 
make  one  witness,  with  divers  circumstances,  as 
good  as  two."  The  story  with  which  Clarendon  fol- 
lows this  remark  is  quite  too  picturesque  to  be 
omitted.1 

"  Mr.  Pym  informed  the  House  of  Commons,  of 
the  ground  upon  which  he  first  advised  that  charge, 
and  was  satisfied  that  he  should  sufficiently  prove  it. 
That  some  months  before  the  beginning  of  this  Par- 
liament he  had  visited  young  Sir  Henry  Vane,  eldest 
son  to  the  Secretary,  who  was  then  newly  recovered 
fronran  ague;  that  being  together  and  condoling  the 
sad  condition  of  the  kingdom,  by  reason  of  the 
many  illegal  taxes  and  pressures,  Sir  Harry  told  him, 
if  he  would  call  upon  him  the  next  day,  he  would 
show  him  somewhat  that  would  give  him  much 
trouble,  and  inform  him  what  counsels  were  like  to 
be  followed  to  the  ruin  of  the  kingdom  ;  for  that  he 
had,  in  perusal  of  some  of  his  father's  papers,  acci- 
dentally met  with  the  result  of  the  Cabinet  Council 
upon  the  dissolution  of  the  last  Parliament,  which 
comprehended  the  resolutions  then  taken.  The  next 
day  he  showed  him  a  little  paper  of  the  Secretary's 
own  writing ;  in  which  was  contained  the  day  of  the 
month,  and  the  results  of  several  discourses  made  by 
several  councillors  ;  with  several  hieroglyphics,  which 
sufficiently  expressed  the  persons  by  whom  those 
discourses  were  made.  The  matter  was  of  so  tran- 

1  Clarendon,  i.  342,  etc. 


122  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1641. 

scendent  a  nature,  and  the  counsel  so  prodigious, 
with  reference  to  the  Commonwealth,  that  he  desired 
he  might  take  a  copy  of  it ;  which  the  young  gentle- 
man would  by  no  means  consent  to,  fearing  it  might 
prove  prejudicial  to  his  father.  But  when  Mr.  Pym 
informed  him  that  it  was  of  extreme  consequence  to 
the  kingdom,  and  that  a  time  might  probably  come 
when  the  discovery  of  this  might  be  a  sovereign 
means  to  preserve  both  Church  and  State,  he  was 
contented  that  Mr.  Pym  should  take  a  copy  of  it; 
which  he  did  in  the  presence  of  Sir  Henry  Vane ; 
and  having  examined  it  together,  delivered  the  origi- 
nal again  to  Sir  Henry.  He  said  he  had  carefully 
kept  this  copy  by  him,  without  communicating  the 
same  to  anybody,  till  the  beginning  of  this  Parlia- 
ment, which  was  the  time  he  conceived  fit  to  make 
use  of  it ;  and  that  then,  meeting  with  many  other  in- 
stances of  the  Earl's  disposition  to  the  kingdom,  it 
satisfied  him  to  move  whatsoever  he  had  moved, 
against  that  great  person." 

Pym  then  read  his  copy:  "  There  were  written  two 
LL's  and  a  t  over,  and  an  I  and  an  r,  which,"  it  was 
urged,  "  could  signify  nothing  but  lord  lieutenant  of 
Ireland,"  and  the  words  written  and  applied  to  that 
name  were,  "  Absolved  from  the  rules  of  govern- 
ment;—  Prosecute  the  war  vigorously ;  An  army  in 
Ireland  to  subdue  this  Kingdom."  Pym  told  what 
the  other  hieroglyphics  were,  interpreting  them,  and 
giving  the  fragmentary  report  of  the  speech  made 
by  each  member  of  the  "Cabinet  Council,"  adding: 
"  That  though  there  was  but  one  witness  directly  in 
the  point,  Sir  Henry  Vane  the  Secretary,  whose 


1 641.]  THE   TRIAL   OF  STRAFFORD.  123 

hand-writing  that  paper  was,  whereof  this  was  a  copy ; 
yet  he  conceived  those  circumstances  of  his  and  young 
Sir  Henry  Vane's  having  seen  those  original  results, 
and  being  ready  to  swear,  that  the  paper  read  by  him 
was  a  true  copy  of  the  other,  might  reasonably 
amount  to  the  validity  of  another  witness. 

"  When  Mr.  Pym  had  ended,  young  Sir  Harry 
Vane  rose  in  some  seeming  disorder,  confessed  all 
that  the  other  had  said,  and  added :  '  That  his  father 
being  in  the  north  with  the  King  the  summer  before, 
had  sent  up  his  keys  to  his  secretary,  then  at  White- 
hall ;  and  had  written  to  him  (his  son)  that  he  should 
take  from  him  those  keys,  which  opened  his  boxes 
where  his  writings  and  evidences  of  his  land  were,  to 
the  end  that  he  might  cause  an  assurance  to  be  per- 
fected which  concerned  his  [young  Sir  Harry's]  wife  ; 
and  that  he  having  perused  those  evidences,  and 
despatched  what  depended  thereupon,  had  the  curi- 
osity to  desire  to  see  what  was  in  a  red  velvet 
cabinet  which  stood  with  the  other  boxes ;  and  there- 
upon required  the  key  of  that  cabinet  from  the  sec- 
retary, as  if  he  still  wanted  somewhat  toward  the 
business  his  father  had  directed ;  and  so,  having  got- 
ten that  key,  he  found,  amongst  other  papers,  that 
mentioned  by  Mr.  Pym,  which  made  that  impression 
in  him,  that  he  thought  himself  bound  in  conscience 
to  communicate  it  to  some  person  of  better  judgment 
than  himself,  who  might  be  more  able  to  prevent  the 
mischiefs  that  were  threatened  therein ;  and  so  shewed 
it  to  Mr.  Pym;  and  being  confirmed  by  him,  that  the 
seasonable  discovery  thereof  might  do  no  less  than 
preserve  the  kingdom,  had  consented  that  he  should 


124  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY   VANE.  [1641. 

take  a  copy  thereof;  which,  to  his  knowledge,  he 
had  faithfully  done ;  and  thereupon  had  laid  the 
original  in  its  proper  place  again,  in  the  red  velvet 
cabinet.  He  said,  he  knew  this  discovery  would 
prove  little  less  than  his  ruin  in  the  good  opinion  of 
his  father;  but  having  been  provoked  by  the  tender- 
ness of  his  conscience  towards  the  common  parent, 
his  country,  to  trespass  against  his  natural  father,  he 
hoped  he  should  find  compassion  from  that  House, 
though  he  had  little  hopes  of  pardon  elsewhere.' 

"  The  son  no  sooner  sat  down,  than  the  father  (who, 
without  any  counterfeiting,  had  a  natural  appearance 
of  sternness)  rose,  with  a  pretty  confusion,  and  said : 
'That  the  ground  of  his  misfortune  was  now  dis- 
covered to  him;  that  he  had  been  much  amazed, 
when  he  found  himself  pressed  by  such  interrogato- 
ries, as  made  him  suspect  some  discovery  to  be  made 
by  some  person  as  conversant  in  the  counsels  as 
himself ;  but  he  was  now  satisfied  to  whom  he  owed 
his  misfortunes ;  in  which,  he  was  sure,  the  guilty  per- 
son should  bear  his  share.  That  it  was  true,  being 
in  the  North  with  the  King,  and  that  unfortunate 
son  of  his  having  married  a  virtuous  gentlewoman, 
(daughter  to  a  worthy  member  then  present),  to 
whom  there  was  somewhat  in  justice  and  honor 
due,  which  was  not  sufficiently  settled,  he  had  sent 
his  keys  to  his  secretary ;  not  well  knowing  in  what 
box  the  material  writings  lay ;  and  directed  him  to 
suffer  his  son  to  look  after  those  evidences  which 
were  necessary;  that  by  this  occasion,  it  seemed 
those  papers  had  been  examined  and  perused,  which 
had  begot  much  of  this  trouble ;  that  for  his  part, 


1641.]  THE    TRIAL   OF  STR AFFORD.  125 

after  the  summons  of  this  Parliament,  and  the  King's 
return  to  London,  he  had  acquainted  his  Majesty, 
that  he  had  many  papers  remaining  in  his  hands,  of 
such  transactions  as  were  not  like  to  be  of  further 
use ;  and,  therefore,  if  his  Majesty  pleased,  he  would 
burn  them,  lest  by  any  accident  they  might  come 
into  hands  that  might  make  an  ill  use  of  them ;  to 
which  his  Majesty  consenting,  he  had  burned  many ; 
and  amongst  them  the  original  results  of  those  de- 
bates, of  which  that  which  was  read  was  pretended 
to  be  a  copy;  that  to  the  particulars  he  could  say 
nothing  more,  than  what  he  had  upon  his  examina- 
tion expressed,  which  was  exactly  true,  and  he  would 
not  deny ;  though  by  what  he  had  heard  that  after- 
noon (with  which  he  was  surprised  and  amazed) 
he  found  himself  in  an  ill  condition  upon  that  testi- 
mony.' 

"  This  scene  was  so  well  acted,  with  such  passion 
and  gestures,  between  the  father  and  son,  that  many 
speeches  were  made  in  commendation  of  the  con- 
science, integrity,  and  merit  of  the  young  man,  and  a 
motion  made  '  that  the  father  might  be  enjoined  by 
the  House  to  be  friends  with  his  son,'  but  for  some 
time  there  was,  in  public,  a  great  distance  observed 
between  them." 

At  Strafford's  trial,  Hyde  and  the  Vanes  were  not 
far  apart.  Events,  however,  soon  brought  to  pass 
two  parties  opposed  to  the  death,  in  one  of  which 
stood  Hyde,  and  in  the  other,  the  father  and  the  son. 
Hyde,  as  Earl  of  Clarendon,  looking  back  at  a  later 
day  upon  the  events  of  this  time,  viewed  them 
through  an  atmosphere  of  battle-smoke,  and  it  could 


126  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY   VANE.  [1641. 

hardly  be  otherwise  than  that  his  figures  should 
undergo  some  distortion.  As  the  extracts  quoted 
show,  he  felt,  honestly  it  is  probable,  that  the  Vanes, 
actuated  by  personal  hatred,  arranged  the  plan  for 
bringing  Strafford  to  destruction  —  that  young  Sir 
Harry  played  a  deep  part,  and  that  the  wrath  of  the 
father  was  pretended  in  order  to  cover  up  the  base 
intrigue.  The  idea  of  the  courtier  historian  will  not 
bear  examination.  The  elder  Vane,  indeed,  had 
neither  great  ability  nor  elevated  character.  "A 
man  of  no  clear  head,  but  a  bustling,  subtle,  forward 
courtier  in  affairs  of  this  magnitude." 1  "  He  could 
not  stand  erect,  could  adapt  himself  to  any  hole, 
round  or  square,  smirked,  ate  good  things,  made 
himself  useful  under  Charles,  the  Commons,  and  the 
Protector."2  There  is  no  reason,  however,  for  as- 
cribing to  him  such  a  depth  of  baseness  as  Claren- 
don's theory  implies ;  careful  study  of  the  facts  will 
convince  one  that  he  was  neither  forger  nor  perjurer. 
Immediately  after  the  meeting  of  the  Council  at 
which  the  words  were  spoken,  it  was  rumored  in 
London  that  Strafford  had  recommended  tne  em- 
ployment of  the  Irish  army  to  subdue  England. 
The  King  knew  of  the  Secretary's  notes,  felt  them  to 
be  dangerous,  and  ordered  them  to  be  burnt  before 

o 

the  trial.  In  all  probability  Vane's  testimony  was 
strictly  truthful,  and  the  outburst  of  wrath  against 
his  son  a  perfectly  genuine  manifestation. 

As  to  young  Sir  Henry  Vane,  since  he  has  often 
been  harshly  judged  for  his  conduct  in  this  matter, 

1  Sir  Philip  Warwick :  Mem.  of        3  Peter  Bayne :  Conlemp.  Rev., 
Reign  of  Charles  /,  p.  153.  quoted  in  Littell,  117,  323. 


1641-]  THE    TRIAL   OF  STRAFFORD.  127 

a  careful  study  of  the  particulars  is  in  place.  Other 
contemporary  accounts  are  somewhat  more  favorable 
to  him  than  that  of  Clarendon.  By  Whitlocke *  the 
son  is  represented  not  as  pursuing  unauthorized  ex- 
plorations after  having  already  found  the  papers  for 
which  his  father  had  given  him  permission  to  search, 
but  as  coming  quite  unexpectedly  upon  the  records 
of  the  secret  meeting  while  engaged  in  his  proper 
quest.  "  The  son,  looking  over  many  papers,  among 
them  lighted  upon  these  notes  ;  which  being  of  so 
great  concernment  to  the  public,  and  declaring  so 
much  against  the  Earl  of  Strafford,  he  held  himself 
bound  in  duty  and  conscience  to  discover  them." 
Nalson  declares,2  "  that  no  sooner  had  the  son  opened 
the  cabinet  and  drawer  according  to  his  father's  di- 
rections, but  he  found  a  paper  with  this  endorsement, 
'  Notes  taken  at  the  Juncto.' "  However  it  may  have 
been,  young  Sir  Henry  made  known  his  discovery  to 
Pym,  and  Pym  declared,  as  the  extract  from  Claren- 
don shows,  that  the  necessity  of  bringing  Strafford 
to  judgment  first  occurred  to  the  Parliamentary 
leaders  after  the  Secretary's  notes  had  been  thus  re- 
vealed to  them.  Would  a  man  of  strict  honor  exam- 
ine in  such  a  way  the  private  papers  of  another  man, 
and  make  known  to  others  the  secrets  he  discovered  ? 
Pym  and  his  friends  felt  that  to  reveal  the  matter 
would  compromise  Vane.  "  For  young  Sir  Harry's 
cause,"  says  Baillie,  "  a  very  gracious  youth,  they  re- 
solved to  make  no  use  of  it  in  public  as  testimony, 

1  Whitlocke,  Memorials,  i.  125,     Great  Affairs  of  State,  by  J.  Nal- 
Oxford,  1853.  son,  ii.  207. 

3  Impartial    Collection    of  the 


128  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1641. 

except  in  case  of  necessity."  Young  Harry  had  been 
under  dangerous  influences.  We  have  seen  him  as 
a  boy  at  Vienna,  cognizant  of  the  unscrupulous 
Jesuitism  with  which  Ferdinand  II  was  trying  to 
oppose  the  arms  of  Gustavus.  He  was  always  sub- 
tle, by  the  admission  of  his  friends,  —  could  pene- 
trate as  no  other  man  could  "  the  drift  of  hollow 
states  hard  to  be  spelled  " ;  *  and  his  enemies,  as  will 
be  abundantly  shown,  were  not  slow  to  speak  of  his 
cunning  as  "  cozening."  In  a  desperate  time,  how- 
ever, cannot  an  act  be  justified,  not  admissible  under 
ordinary  circumstances  ? 

Let  us  put  ourselves  for  a  moment  in  young  Sir 
Harry's  place,  in  those  evil  days.  No  doubt  in  his 
mind  he  was  much  embarrassed.  He  had  accepted 
favors  from  the  King  —  the  Treasurership  of  the 
Navy,  and  the  honor  of  Knighthood.  But  while  on 
fair  terms  with  the  King,  he  had  at  the  same  time 
been  for  years  the  intimate  friend  of  Pym,  and  his 
sympathies  had  become  strongly  enlisted  for  the 
cause  of  the  Parliament.  The  evil  counsellors  of  the 
King,  he  felt,  were  bringing  both  Sovereign  and 
nation  to  destruction.  Finding  himself  in  London, 
his  father  being  still  absent  in  the  North,  and  being 
trusted  with  the  keys  to  his  father's  private  papers, 
the  opportunity  comes  into  his  hands  of  discovering 
precisely  what  those  evil  counsels  are,  as  communi- 
cated to  Charles  in  his  secret  meetings  with  his  ad- 
visers. To  read  the  records  of  the  Cabinet  Council 
was,  no  doubt,  an  underhand  proceeding,  an  abuse 
of  confidence ;  but  are  such  things  never  justifiable  ? 

1  Milton's  Sonnet  to  Vane. 


i64i.]  THE   TRIAL   OF  STRAFFORD.  1 29 

When,  at  a  later  day,  the  private  letters  of  Charles 
were  captured  at  the  battle  of  Naseby,  the  knightly 
Fairfax,  the  General  of  the  Parliament,  refused  to 
examine  them  because  they  were  private.  Others 
were  less  scrupulous ;  the  letters  were  found  to  con- 
tain evidence  of  treachery  most  important  for  patriots 
to  know.  Although  Fairfax  protested,  the  letters 
were  made  public,  and  had  a  most  important  influ- 
ence in  strengthening  the  heart  of  the  nation  in  the 
struggle  upon  which  it  had  entered.  Just  before 
Naseby  again,  with  like  punctiliousness,  Fairfax  re- 
fused to  open  a  letter  from  a  Royalist  commander 
to  the  King,  which  had  been  intercepted;  it  was 
private,  he  thought,  and  though  information,  in  all 
probability,  was  conveyed  in  it  the  possession  of 
which  might  bring  success  to  his  cause,  still  the 
General  felt  that  honor  forbade  the  breaking  of  the 
seal.  Few  would  say  that  in  a  time  of  war  such  scru- 
ples are  not  quixotic.  In  the  summer  of  1641  there 
was  as  yet  to  be  sure  no  war,  but  nothing  could  be 
more  critical  than  the  condition  of  England  in  the 
eyes  of  the  circle  of  which  young  Sir  Henry  had 
become  a  member.  His  regard  for  uthe  common 
parent,  his  country,"  he  says,  "  had  provoked  him  to 
trespass  against  his  natural  father."  He  had  a  good 
motive  in  abusing  his  father's  confidence.  Without 
doubt  he  believed  that  his  father's  record  concerning 
Straff ord  made  it  certain  that  the  Earl  had  advised 
the  use  of  the  Irish  army  for  the  subjection  of  Eng- 
land. The  discovery  "made  that  impression  on  him 
that  he  thought  himself  bound  in  conscience  to  com- 
municate it  to  some  person  of  better  judgment  than 


130  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1641. 

himself."  Pym,  therefore,  became  his  confidant,  "  and 
being  confirmed  by  him  that  the  seasonable  discov- 
ery thereof  might  do  no  less  than  preserve  the  king- 
dom," he  had  consented  to  its  promulgation.  Straf- 
ford,  indeed,  was  the  personal  enemy  of  his  father, 
and  had  just  before  offered  the  Vanes  what  they  must 
both  have  felt  as  a  cutting  insult,  in  appropriating  a 
title  which  properly  belonged  to  them.  It  is  utterly 
unreasonable,  however,  to  suppose  that  young  Sir 
Henry  was  actuated  by  any  petty  malice.  His  char- 
acter, as  indicated  by  his  entire  course,  makes  it 
certain  that  only  the  public  considerations  weighed 
with  him.  He  felt  embarrassed ;  his  friends  tried  to 
shield  him,  but  it  became  necessary  to  make  the 
whole  truth  known  to  prevent  the  prosecution  of 
Strafford  from  going  by  the  board.  The  Commons 
felt  that  young  Vane  had  in  every  way  acted  well. 
"  Many  speeches  were  made  in  commendation  of  the 
conscience,  integrity,  and  merit  of  the  young  man." 
The  candid  student  to-day  must  believe  that  his  con- 
duct admits  of  a  good  defence.  The  country  was 
on  the  brink  of  ruin ;  was  it  a  time  to  be  fastidious 
in  grasping  at  the  means  to  save  it  ? 

As  to  Strafford,  it  may  be  believed  he  was  honest 
in  denying  the  words.  They  came  from  him  as  he 
was  speaking  impetuously,  and  may  easily  have  been 
forgotten,  and  the  Parliament  men  attached  a  weight 
to  them  which  he  did  not  at  all  appreciate.  Having 
been  long  in  Ireland,  he  did  not  understand  English 
feeling,  before  which  the  use  of  an  Irish  army  to 
overawe  England  was  like  the  employment  of  the 
Turcos  by  the  French  in  the  eyes  of  the  Germans  of 


1641.]  THE   TRIAL   OF  STRAFFORD.  131 

1870,  or  the  employment  of  the  savages  by  the  Eng- 
lish in  the  eyes  of  the  Americans  during  our  Revo- 
lution. Strafford  knew  the  army  to  be  well  disciplined 
and  obedient,  and  could  see  no  objection  to  bringing 
it  to  bear  in  behalf  of  that  supremacy  of  the  King 
which  he  honestly  felt  to  be  for  the  best  interest  of 
the  nation.1 

Young  Sir  Henry  Vane,  then,  gave  his  testimony 
in  St.  Stephen's  Chapel  before  the  House  of  Com- 
mons on  the  afternoon  of  the  loth  of  April.  Though 
the  Commons  were  sullen  at  what  they  felt  to  be  the 
delay  of  the  Peers,  the  more  prudent  among  them, 
Pym  and  Hampden,  with  others,  had  no  thought  but 
of  persisting  in  the  impeachment.  There  were  more 
impatient  spirits,  however,  and  soon,  under  the  lead 
of  Sir  Arthur  Haselrig,  a  bold,  blundering,  honest 
man,  young  Harry's  associate  in  boyhood,  and  des- 
tined to  stand  in  close  relations  with  him  to  the  very 
last,  it  was  resolved  to  substitute  for  the  impeach- 
ment a  bill  of  attainder.  This  was  a  device  of  the 
preceding  century,  originating  with  Thomas  Crom- 
well, to  be  used  against  men  who  could  not  be 
reached  by  impeachment,  by  which  the  Commons 
became  as  much  judges  as  the  Lords ;  culprits  were 
declared  guilty  by  sentence  of  the  legislative  power, 
—  by  a  law  in  parliamentary  form.  Though  unusual, 
a  bill  of  attainder  was  sanctioned  by  precedent  and 
was  just,  since  Parliament  could  make  laws  for  every 
case.2  When  the  Peers  heard  of  it,  they  were  indig- 

1  The  matter  is  carefully  argued     bearing  upon  the  case,  ix.  p.  321, 
by  Gardiner,  who  combines  a  tern-     also  pp.  123,  etc. 
per    thoroughly    judicial     with     a         2  Ranke  :  Hist,  of  Engl.  ii.  249. 
minute  knowledge   of  every  fact     Warwick,   173.     Skottowe:  Short 

Hist,  of  Parl.  38. 


132  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1641. 

nant  "  It  is  unnatural,"  said  one  of  them,  "  for  the 
head  to  be  governed  by  the  tail.  We  hate  rebellion 
as  much  as  treason ; "  and  they  went  on  in  the  im- 
peachment to  hear  Strafford's  defence.  Strafford 
himself,  referring  to  Pym's  new  definition  of  treason, 
and  claiming  that  he  could  not  be  blamed  for  having 
unconsciously  sinned,  said  in  an  illustration,  which  to 
any  one  who  knows  the  Thames  will  seem  even  now 
vivid,  "  If  I  pass  down  the  Thames  in  a  boat,  and  run 
and  split  myself  upon  an  anchor,  if  there  be  not  a 
buoy  to  give  me  warning,  the  party  shall  give  me 
damages ;  but  if  it  be  marked  out,  then  it  is  at  my 
own  peril.  .  .  .  Were  it  not  for  the  interest  of  those 
pledges  which  a  saint  in  heaven  left  me "  —  The 
strong  man  stopped,  broken  down  at  the  thought  of 
his  wife  and  children ;  after  a  moment  he  resumed :  "  I 
never  should  take  the  pains  to  keep  up  this  ruinous 
Cottage  of  mine.  It  is  laden  with  such  infirmities, 
that,  in  truth,  I  have  no  great  pleasure  to  carry  it 
about  with  me  any  longer."  He  finished  his  plea  in  a 
strain  solemnly  devout.  "  My  Lords,  my  Lords,  my 
Lords,  something  more  I  had  to  say,  but  my  voice 
and  spirit  fail  me.  I  do  submit  myself  clearly  and 
freely  to  your  judgments,  and  whether  that  righteous 
judgment  shall  be  life  or  death,  te  Deum  laudamus, 
te  Dominum  confitemur." 

As  April  wore  to  a  close  the  Lords  and  Commons 
remained  at  cross-purposes,  and  meantime  the  im- 
peachment proceeded.  Once  more  Charles  sent 
word  to  Strafford  "  upon  the  word  and  honor  of  a 
King,  you  shall  not  suffer  in  life,  honor,  or  fortune." 
But  events  favored  the  more  violent  course.  Thicker 


1641.]  THE   TRIAL   OF  STRAFFORD.  133 

and  thicker  flew  the  rumors  of  plots.  The  Dutch 
were  believed  to  be  at  hand  —  the  arm  of  the  papal 
power  not  less  imminent.  What  Goring  had  be- 
trayed to  the  leaders  about  the  descent  of  the  north- 
ern army,  became  generally  known.  At  length  the 
wildest  panic  prevailed,  for  it  was  reported  a  French 
army  had  seized  the  Channel  Islands,  and  were  at 
the  very  shore  of  England.  A  mob  beset  the  House 
of  Lords,  clamoring  for  justice  on  Strafford.  The 
feeling  became  universal  among  the  Peers  as  in  the 
Commons,  in  favor  of  the  more  irregular  but  quicker 
way.  "  We  give  law,"  cried  St.  John,  "  to  hares 
and  deer,  because  they  be  beasts  of  chase ;  it  was 
never  counted  cruelty  or  foul  play  to  knock  foxes 
and  wolves  on  the  head  as  they  can  be  found,  be- 
cause they  be  beasts  of  prey."  One  day  a  board 
cracked  in  the  House  of  Commons,  under  the 
weight  of  two  stout  members.  Some  one  cried  out 
that  he  smelt  gunpowder.  The  members  rushed  into 
the  lobby,  the  lobby  loungers  into  Westminster  Hall, 
fearing  a  new  Guy  Fawkes  plot.  With  shrieks  of 
terror  some  sought  the  city;  and  the  train-bands, 
arming,  marched  toward  the  danger,  reaching  Covent 
Garden  before  word  came  that  it  was  a  false  alarm. 
In  the  midst  of  the  tumult  the  memorable  bill  passed 
both  Houses  that  Parliament  should  not  be  dis- 
solved without  its  own  consent,  and  at  last  the  bill  of 
attainder,  both  bills  being  brought  to  the  King  for 
his  signature  on  the  8th  of  May. 

Strafford  knew  that  he  must  die,  and  proclaimed 
himself  willing.  "  I  do  most  humbly  beseech  your 
Majesty,"  he  wrote  Charles,  "  to  pass  this  bill.  .  .  . 


134  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1641. 

To  a  willing  man  there  is  no  injury  done.  ...  I 
only  beg  that,  in  your  goodness,  you  would  vouch- 
safe to  cast  your  gracious  regard  upon  my  poor 
son  and  his  three  sisters.  .  .  .  God  preserve  your 
Majesty." 

As  the  bill  of  attainder  for  Strafford  and  the  bill 
for  perpetuating  Parliament  were  brought  to  the 
King,  an  armed  multitude  followed.  While  Charles 
temporized,  Whitehall  was  in  a  panic.  The  mob 
threatened  each  moment  to  attack  the  palace.  The 
Catholic  intriguers  professed  themselves  to  be  stand- 
ing in  fear  of  present  death.  The  Queen  was  in  im- 
minent danger  of  being  carried  to  prison,  with  almost 
a  certainty  of  being  torn  in  pieces  on  the  road. 
Scarcely  a  counsellor  advised  Charles  to  persist. 
The  Lieutenant  of  the  Tower  declared  he  would  ex- 
ecute the  Earl  whether  the  King  agreed  or  not.  The 
agonized  Sovereign  yielded  at  last,  appointing  com- 
missioners to  sign  both  bills,  so  that  they  became 
law.  Even  then  Charles  could  not  give  him  up,  but 
begged  hard  that  the  pursuers  would  be  satisfied 
with  something  else  than  execution ;  or,  if  not,  that 
his  life  might  be  spared  for  a  few  days.  But  Parlia- 
ment was  pitiless  through  terror.  "  Stone-dead  hath 
no  fellow ! "  had  been  the  stern  exclamation  of  the 
Earl  of  Essex  when  asked  to  be  merciful,  and  "  Stone- 
dead  hath  no  fellow !  "  had  become  the  general  cry. 

Strafford  seems  to  have  had  a  glimmer  of  hope, 
for  when  the  yielding  of  the  King  was  announced  to 
him  :  "  Put  not  your  trust  in  Princes,"  he  cried,  "  nor 
in  the  sons  of  men,  for  in  them  there  is  no  salva- 
tion." It  was  finished  on  the  i2th  of  May.  As  the 


1641.]  THE   TRIAL   OF  STRAFFORD.  135 

Earl  passed  the  window  of  Laud,  the  old  man  ex- 
tended his  hands  through  the  bars  to  bless  him,  but 
fainted  in  the  act. 

"  This  noble  Earl  was  in  person  of  a  tall  stature, 
something  inclining  to  stooping  in  his  shoulders,  his 
hair  black  and  thick,  which  he  wore  short,  his  coun- 
tenance of  a  grave  well-composed  symmetry  and 
good  features,  only  in  his  forehead  he  expressed 
more  severity  than  affability,  yet  a  very  courteous 
person.  And  as  he  went  from  the  Tower  to  the 
scaffold,  his  countenance  was  in  a  mild  posture,  be- 
tween dejection  in  contrition  for  sin  and  a  high  cour- 
age, without  perceiving  the  least  affirmation  of  dis- 
guise in  him.  He  saluted  the  people  as  he  walked 
on  foot,  often  putting  off  his  hat  unto  them,  being 
apparelled  in  a  black  cloth  suit,  having  white  gloves 
on  his  hands.  And  though  at  this  time  there  were 
gathered  together  on  the  great  open  place  on  Tower 
Hill,  where  the  scaffold  stood,  a  numerous  crowd  of 
people,  standing  as  thick  as  they  could  one  by  an- 
other over  all  that  great  hill,  insomuch  as  by  modest 
computation  they  could  not  be  esteemed  less  than 
one  hundred  thousand  people,  yet  as  he  went  to  the 
scaffold,  they  uttered  no  reproachful  or  reflecting 
language  upon  him."  1 

The  moral  greatness  of  the  man  subdued  even  the 
rudest  hearts,  as  he  marched  to  the  block  with  the 
step  of  a  conqueror  passing  beneath  the  flower-hung 
arches  of  his  triumph.  "  Thou  shalt  not  bind  mine 
eyes,  for  I  will  see  it  done,"  he  said  to  the  execu- 
tioner as  he  bared  his  neck.  A  silent  prayer,  then  the 
hands  were  spread  forth  in  signal,  and  all  was  over. 

1  Rushworth,  Hist.  Coll.  viii.  772,  773. 


136  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1641. 

Long  ago  as  it  is,  and  champion  though  he  was 
of  un-American  ideas,  the  eyelids  still  tremble  as  one 
reads  how  the  Earl,  his  defence  utterly  beaten  back, 
and  the  scaffold  rising  before  him,  refers  with  broken 
voice  to  his  dead  wife  and  innocent  children.  He 
could  not  understand  the  men  who  brought  him  to 
the  block,  nor  they  him.  Perhaps  it  was  fortunate 
that  it  was  so.  Had  they  perceived  his  real  noble- 
ness, they  could  not  have  pressed  upon  him  so  re- 
lentlessly, and  it  was  only  relentless  pressing  that 
brought  to  pass  his  doom.  It  is  well  for  us  all  that 
he  died,  for  had  he  lived,  and  stood  at  the  right  hand 
of  Charles,  as  he  must  infallibly  have  done,  leading 
the  armies,  counselling  and  upholding  the  King  as 
he  felt  inclined  to  palter  —  matchless  as  the  Earl  was 
in  his  time  in  intellect  and  strength  of  purpose,  the 
freedom  of  the  English-speaking  race  must  have 
gone  down,  as  freedom  had  before  gone  down  among 
every  people  except  the  English,  descended  from 
those  ancient  Teutons,  governing  themselves  in  their 
assemblies  in  the  plains  of  Central  Europe.  It  is 
well  that  he  died,  although  his  purposes  were  good. 
The  path  he  pursued  conscientiously,  like  the  path 
which  many  another  would-be  benefactor  has  pur- 
sued, led  not  to  the  elevation  but  to  the  debasement 
of  mankind.  One  sharp  pang  and  let  us  hope  he 
stood  in  a  light  where  he  could  see  things  in  truer 
relations.  Was  young  Sir  Harry  Vane  in  the  crowd 
that  day  to  see  the  end  of  the  man  whom  he  had 
done  so  much  to  bring  low  ?  There  is  no  record,  — 
but  a  day  will  come  when  we  shall  see  Vane  on 
Tower  Hill. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE    BEGINNING   OF   THE    CIVIL   WAR. 

THE  course  of  events  must  be  briefly  outlined 
from  the  period  we  have  reached  until  the  actual 
outbreak  of  hostilities  between  the  King  and  the 
Houses.  While  the  trial  of  Strafford  was  in  hand, 
the  matter  of  tonnage  and  poundage  (the  illegal  im- 
post of  the  nature  of  ship-money,  which  had  been 
much  in  dispute)  was  settled  by  divesting  the  King 
here  of  all  power.  We  have  seen  how  the  immensely 
important  law  that  Parliament  should  not  be  dis- 
solved without  its  own  consent,  had  received  the 
sanction  of  the  King  in  the  distress  of  the  moment 
when  Strafford  was  condemned.  Soon  after  came 
the  abolition  of  the  Star  Chamber  and  High  Com- 
mission Courts.  The  Scots,  who  for  a  year  had  lain 
in  England,  threatening  the  King,  now  received  a 
good  subsidy  from  Parliament  and  returned  home 
well  pleased.  Charles  yielded  everything,  going  him- 
self in  August  to  Scotland,  and  taking  part  in  the 
grave  and  stately  way  which  became  him  so  well  in 
the  Presbyterian  worship.  When  Parliament  con- 
vened in  October,  after  a  recess  which  had  begun  on 
the  8th  of  August,  its  temper  towards  the  King  was 
no  more  conciliatory  than  before.  Almost  at  once 


138  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1641. 

news  came  that  Ireland,  relieved  of  the  pressure  of 
the  hand  of  Strafford,  had  burst  into  furious  rebellion. 
A  strong  set  toward  Presbyterianism  was  manifest- 
ing itself  in  the  nation,  and  not  only  were  Catholics 
believed  to  be  driving  at  mischief,  but  Anglicans, 
too,  were  viewed  with  suspicion. 

At  once  after  the  opening  of  the  session  came  a 
vigorous  manifesto,  the  Grand  Remonstrance,  in 
which  the  King's  mistakes  were  rehearsed  in  more 
uncompromising  terms  than  ever,  —  the  unsuccess- 
ful military  expeditions,  the  forced  loans,  the  ille- 
gal imprisonment,  the  levying  of  taxes  without  con- 
sent of  Parliament,  and  a  long  catalogue  besides,  of 
arbitrary  proceedings,  implying  a  total  subversion  of 
the  constitution.  To  many  this  manifesto  seemed 
quite  too  violent,  and  it  passed  the  Commons  by  a 
majority  of  only  eleven,  in  the  midst  of  an  excitement 
which  seemed  likely  to  result  in  a  battle.  The  au- 
thority of  Hampden  calmed  the  storm.  A  spirit 
more  democratic  than  had  yet  appeared  became  rife, 
the  Commons  asserting  that  "  they  themselves  were 
the  representative  body  of  the  whole  kingdom,  that 
the  Peers  were  only  individuals,  and  if  the  Lords 
were  contumacious  the  Commons  must  join  together 
and  take  care  of  the  King."  In  these  days  came  a 
definite  taking  of  sides,  and  the  terms  Cavalier  and 
Roundhead  appear.  Hyde,  Falkland,  Colepeper,  and 
many  another,  who  up  to  this  time  had  opposed 
Charles,  now  ranged  themselves,  displeased  at  the 
violence  of  the  majority,  upon  the  King's  side.  The 
close  of  the  year  was  marked  by  a  proceeding  highly 
revolutionary.  In  the  tumults  that  prevailed,  the 


1642.]      THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  CIVIL    WAR.         139 

Bishops,  unable  to  make  their  way  to  Westminster 
without  being  insulted  or  indeed  roughly  handled, 
were  absent  from  their  places  in  the  Lords.  They 
protested  against  action  which  took  place  in  their 
absence,  whereupon  the  whole  body  of  them  were 
impeached  and  arrested  as  impeding  legislation. 

If  Charles  had  possessed  proper  prudence,  he 
might  now  have  gained  great  advantages.  He  had 
been  well  received  in  London  on  his  return  from 
Scotland,  and  a  temperate  course  would  have  won 
him  friends.  Urged  on  by  the  Queen,  however,  who 
was  made  to  believe  that  the  Commons  might  be 
cowed  by  a  show  of  vigor,  Charles  undertook,  Janu- 
ary 3,  the  Impeachment  of  the  Five  Members  whom 
he  regarded  as  ringleaders  of  the  opposition,  going 
himself  with  an  armed  force  to  seize  them.  Warned 
in  time,  they  escaped  to  the  city,  whence  Skippon, 
leader  of  the  London  train-bands,  escorted  them  back 
to  their  places.  Charles  left  London,  never  to  see  it 
again  except  as  a  prisoner.  Parliament,  now  seizing 
the  power  of  the  sword,  made  levies  of  troops,  to 
which  act  the  King  gave  a  warlike  response.  On 
the  side  of  the  Cavaliers  ranged  themselves  most  of 
the  nobles  and  gentry,  the  clergy,  the  universities,  the 
Anglicans  in  general ;  also,  all  who  made  pleasure  a 
business,  painters,  comic  poets,  rope-dancers,  and 
buffoons; — these  with  the  Catholics.1  Opposed  to 
these  "  Malignants "  stood  the  nonconformists  in 
general  —  the  small  freeholders,  and  the  merchants 
and  workmen  in  the  towns.  The  environment  of  the 
King  speedily  became  splendid.  Forty  Peers  of  the 

1  Macaulay,  i.  80. 


140  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1641. 

first  rank  were  soon  in  his  train,  whereas  there  were 
now  seldom  more  than  sixteen  at  Westminster. 
About  half  the  Commons  also  disappeared,  sixty 
making  their  way  with  Hyde  to  the  northern  head- 
quarters of  the  King  at  York. 

Abundant  evidence  exists  that  young  Sir  Henry 
Vane  had  made  a  strong  impression  of  ability  upon 
the  members  of  the  Long  Parliament  from  the  first. 
Following  diligently  the  Journal  of  the  House  of 
Commons,  one  finds  constant  mention  of  both  father 
and  son.  The  reports  are  very  meagre,  giving  the 
merest  outline  of  business  transacted.  Of  the  elo- 
quence which  must  have  been  poured  out,  the  spasms 
of  terror,  the  alternations  of  hope,  one  obtains 
scarcely  an  idea.  As  regards  the  present  subject, 
a  great  difficulty  arises  from  the  fact  that  in  the 
reports  there  is  a  careless  neglect  to  distinguish  be- 
tween father  and  son.  "  Sir  Henry  Vane  "  is  con- 
stantly at  work,  but  whether  the  young  or  the  old 
Sir  Henry,  the  searcher  is  for  the  most  part  left  to 
his  own  wits  to  determine. 

Vane's  contemporary  biographer,  Sikes,  testifies  to 
a  diligence  which  no  doubt  existed  from  the  first :  — 

"  During  the  Long  Parliament,  he  was  usually  so 
engaged  for  the  Publick,  in  the  House,  and  several 
committees,  from  early  in  the  morning  to  very  late 
at  night,  that  he  had  scarce  any  leisure  to  eat  his 
bread,  converse  with  his  nearest  Relations,  or  at  all 
to  mind  his  Family  affairs." 

At  once  after  Strafford's  trial,  the  old  ecclesiasti- 
cal order  was  swept  away.  On  the  27th  of  May,  a 


1641.]       THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  CIVIL   WAR.        141 

certain  Sir  Edward  Bering,  being  in  the  Commons, 
introduced  a  bill  for  the  abolition  of  Episcopacy.1 
Dering  afterwards  changing  his  ground  stated  in  an 
"  Apology,"  that  the  bill  was  presented  by  him  al- 
most without  having  been  read,  having  been  "  pressed 
into  his  hand  "  just  before  by  Haselrig,  who  in  turn 
received  it  from  young  Sir  Henry  Vane  and  Mr. 
Oliver  Cromwell.  The  measure  was  a  most  radical 
and  important  one,  the  immediate  cause  of  the  defi- 
nite taking  of  sides,  from  which  war  was  at  once  to 
result.  We  find  Vane  at  the  bottom  of  it.  It  is  an 
interesting  crisis,  too,  in  Vane's  story  from  the  fact 
that  here  for  the  first  time  we  see  him  associated  in 
action  with  Cromwell,  with  whom  henceforth  his  ca- 
reer is  most  closely  bound.  The  shrewd  indirection, 
moreover,  that  marks  the  incident  is  to  be  noted. 
The  originators  themselves  do  not  present  their  meas- 
ure, but  pass  it  from  hand  to  hand  until  it  reaches  a 
member  by  whom  it  can  be  laid  before  the  House 
with  a  better  chance  of  meeting  success.  If  Bering's 
statement  can  be  trusted,  he  was  unwary  and  was 
surprised  into  doing  something  from  which  he  would 
have  shrunk.  This  subtle  management  we  shall  find 
to  be  thoroughly  characteristic  of  Vane  and  his 
friends.  The  measure  was  passed,  and,  on  June  21, 
Vane  proposed  the  form  of  church  government 
which  should  take  the  place  of  the  abolished  Prelacy, 
—  that  for  the  present  namely,  commissioners,  partly 
clerical  and  partly  lay,  should  be  appointed  for  the 
purpose  in  each  diocese. 

1  Sanford,  The  Great  Rebellion,     Old  Parliamentary  History,  Lond. 
p.  363,  etc.    Gardiner,  ix.  383,  etc.    1753,  under  date. 


142  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1641. 

It  is  a  fact  of  significance  that  whereas  Pym  car- 
ried up  the  impeachment  of  Strafford  to  the  House 
of  Lords,  the  member  charged  to  do  the  same  office 
for  his  fellow-culprit,  Laud,  was  young  Sir  Henry 
Vane.  February  26,  "  Sir  H.  Vane  is  appointed  to 
go  up  to  the  Lords  to  desire  a  conference  with  their 
lordships  by  a  committee  of  both  Houses  so  soon 
as  may  stand  with  their  lordships  occasions,  concern- 
ing articles  to  be  preferred  against  Wm.  Laud,  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury,  in  maintenance  of  the  common 
charge  whereby  he  stands  accused  of  high  treason."  * 

On  June  n,  the  House  being  in  committee  of  the 
whole,  with  Hyde  in  the  chair,  a  speech  against 
Episcopal  government  was  delivered  by  Sir  Henry 
Vane.  Nalson,2  and  also  the  Old  Parliamentary  His- 
tory, ascribe  this  speech  to  Sir  Henry  Vane  of  Wil- 
ton. This  would  make  the  father  the  speaker,  Wil- 
ton being  the  borough  for  which  he  sat.  The  speech 
is  a  noble  arraignment  of  Prelacy,  and  it  is  quite 
impossible  that  it  should  have  been  delivered  by  the 
elder  Vane ;  he  at  this  time  was  still  in  full  accord 
with  the  Court,  proceeding  with  the  King  in  August 
to  Scotland.3  The  speech,  plainly,  was  young  Sir 
Henry's. 

Clarendon,4  just  before  describing  the  trial  of  Straf- 
ford, characterizes  in  his  skilful  way  the  leaders  of 
the  Commons.  After  considering  Pym,  Hampden, 
and  St.  John,  he  speaks  of  young  Sir  Henry  Vane 

1  Journal 'of 'House of 'Commons,        •  See  letters   to   and  from  the 
also  Laud's  Diary,  Rushworth,  iii.  elder  Vane  in  the  Nicholas  Pa* 
1087.  pers,  Camden  Society  publication, 

2  Impartial    Collection    of  the  1886. 

Great  Affairs  of  State,  vol.  ii.  p.        *  Ibid.  291,  etc. 
276  and  index. 


1641-]       THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  CIVIL   WAR.  143 

as  being  received  by  the  three  magnates  into  an  es- 
pecial confidence.  "  Sir  Harry  Vane  was  a  man  of 
great  natural  parts,  and  of  very  profound  dissimula- 
tion, of  a  quick  conception,  and  very  ready,  sharp, 
and  weighty  expression.  He  had  an  unusual  aspect, 
which,  though  it  might  naturally  proceed  both  from 
his  father  and  mother,  neither  of  whom  were  beauti- 
ful persons,  yet  made  men  think  there  was  something 
in  him  of  extraordinary;  and  his  whole  life  made 
good  that  imagination.  Within  a  very  short  time 
after  he  returned  from  his  studies  in  Magdalen  Col- 
lege at  Oxford,  where,  though  he  was  under  the  care 
of  a  very  worthy  tutor,  he  lived  not  with  great  exact- 
ness, he  spent  some  little  time  in  France  and  more 
in  Geneva;  and  after  his  return  into  England,  con- 
tracted a  full  prejudice  and  bitterness  against  the 
Church,  both  against  the  form  of  the  government 
and  the  liturgy,  which  was  generally  in  great  rever- 
ence, even  with  many  of  those  who  were  not  friends 
to  the  other.  In  this  giddiness,  which  then  much  dis- 
pleased, or  seemed  to  displease,  his  father,  who  still 
appeared  highly  conformable,  and  exceedingly  sharp 
against  those  that  were  not,  he  transported  himself 
into  New  England,  a  colony  within  a  few  years  be- 
fore planted  by  a  mixture  of  all  religions,  which  dis- 
posed the  professors  to  dislike  the  government  of  the 
Church ;  who  were  qualified  by  the  King's  charter 
to  choose  their  own  government  and  governors,  un- 
der the  obligation  '  that  every  man  should  take  the 
oaths  of  allegiance  and  supremacy,'  which  all  the 
first  planters  did,  when  they  received  their  charter, 
before  they  transported  themselves  from  hence,  nor 


144  YCUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1641. 

was  there  in  many  years  after  the  least  scruple 
amongst  them  of  complying  with  those  obligations ; 
so  far  men  were,  in  the  infancy  of  their  schism,  from 
refusing  to  take  lawful  oaths.  He  was  no  sooner 
landed  there,  but  his  parts  made  him  quickly  taken 
notice  of,  and  very  probably  his  quality,  being  the 
eldest  son  of  a  privy  counsellor,  might  give  him  some 
advantage;  insomuch  that,  when  the  next  season 
came  for  the  election  of  their  Magistrates,  he  was 
chosen  their  Governor ;  in  which  place  he  had  so 
ill-fortune  (his  working  and  unquiet  fancy  raising  and 
infusing  a  thousand  scruples  of  conscience  which 
they  had  not  brought  over  with  them,  nor  heard  of 
before)  that  he  unsatisfied  with  them  and  they  with 
him,  he  transported  himself  into  England ;  having 
sowed  such  seed  of  dissension  there,  as  grew  up  too 
prosperously,  and  miserably  divided  the  poor  colony 
into  several  factions,  and  divisions,  and  persecutions 
of  each  other,  which  still  continue  to  the  great  pre- 
judice of  that  plantation.  .  .  .  He  was  no  sooner  re- 
turned into  England,  than  he  seemed  to  be  much  re- 
formed in  those  extravagancies,  and,  with  his  father's 
approbation  and  direction,  married  a  lady  of  a  good 
family.  .  .  .  He  became  so  intimate  with  the  leaders 
that  nothing  was  concealed  from  him,  though  it  is 
believed  he  communicated  his  own  thoughts  to  very 
few." 

Young  Sir  Henry  Vane,  to  pass  over  less  important 
incidents,  was  one  of  the  committee  of  Parliament 
appointed  to  sit  during  the  recess  in  the  fall,  and  was 
active  in  bringing  the  Commons  into  a  committee  of 
the  whole  for  a  consideration  of  the  Irish  rebellion.  In 


1642.]       THE  BEGINNING   OF  THE   CIVIL    WAR.         145 

December,  the  elder  Vane,  having  now  definitely  taken 
sides  with  Parliament,  lost  his  high  offices  at  Court,1 
Falkland  succeeding  him  as  Secretary  of  State. 
Young  Vane  also  lost  his  own  position  as  Treasurer 
of  the  Navy ;  upon  which  displacements  a  royalist, 
Captain  George  Carterett,  remarks :  "  It  seems  that 
Sir  Henry  Vane  the  younger  is  much  esteemed  in 
the  Commons,  but  I  do  not  hear  the  like  of  his 
father,  but  rather  that  he  has  lost  the  good  opinion  of 
both  sides."2  Young  Sir  Harry  was  not,  to  be  sure, 
one  of  the  Five  Members  whom  the  King  sought  to 
seize,  but  was  one  of  the  committee  of  ten  appointed 
at  the  time  to  retire  "  and  consider  of  some  way  of  vin- 
dicating the  privileges  of  Parliament  and  for  provid- 
ing for  the  safety  of  both  kingdoms." 3  The  diary  of 
Sir  Symonds  d'Ewes  represents  him  as  standing  now 
in  the  first  rank  in  the  estimation  of  the  House,  and 
gives  an  instance  of  the  young  legislator's  conduct 
highly  creditable  to  his  coolness  and  sense  of  justice. 
While  the  Commons  impetuously  denounced  the 
breach  of  their  privileges  suffered  at  the  hands  of  the 
King,  using  language  implying  a  disposition  to  pro- 
tect their  members  in  any  case  whatever,  Vane  caused 
it  to  be  added  to  their  declaration,  "  That  we  are  so 
far  from  any  endeavor- to  protect  any  of  our  members 
that  shall  be  in  due  manner  prosecuted  (according 
to  the  laws  of  the  kingdom  and  the  rights  and  privi- 
leges of  Parliament)  for  treason,  or  any  other  misde- 
meanor, that  none  shall  be  more  ready  and  willing 
than  we  ourselves  to  bring  them  to  a  speedy  and  due 

1  State  Papers,  Domestic,  Dec.        2  S.  P.,  Dom.,  Dec.  23,  1641. 
10,  1641.  8  Commons  Journal,  ]aa..  5, 1642. 


146  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1642. 

trial ;  being  sensible  that  it  equally  imports  us,  as 
well  to  see  justice  done  against  them  that  are  crimi- 
nal, as  to  defend  the  just  rights  and  liberties  of  the 
subjects  and  Parliament  of  England." ] 

He  was  especially  distinguished  in  all  matters  of 
religious  reform  ;  and  in  debates  as  regards  the  com- 
mand of  the  militia,  which  had  now  become  a  great 
subject  of  dispute,  he  was  very  active  and  deter- 
mined. 

A  picturesque  incident  of  this  time  lets  light  in 
upon  the  bearing  of  Vane  and  also  of  the  King.  In 
March,  1642,  Vane  was  member  of  a  special  com- 
mittee of  twelve  from  both  Houses,  which  waited 
upon  the  King  at  Theobald's,  not  far  from  London, 
when,  the  rupture  not  yet  being  open,  the  King  was 
pressed  to  yield  to  Parliament  the  command  of  the 
militia.  To  the  curt  and  peremptory  tone  of  the 
commissioners,  who  demanded  also  that  the  King 
should  reside  near  Westminster,  and  make  provision 
for  the  proper  education  of  the  Prince  of  Wales, 
Charles  replied,  according  to  a  royalist  writer: 2  — 

" '  I  am  so  much  amazed  at  this  message  that  I 
know  not  what  to  answer.  You  speak  of  jealousies  and 
fears  !  lay  your  hands  to  your  hearts  and  ask  your- 
selves whether  I  may  not  likewise  be  disturbed  with 
fears  and  jealousies  ?  And  if  so,  I  assure  you  this 
message  hath  nothing  lessened  it.  As  to  the  militia,  I 
thought  so  much  of  it  before  I  sent  that  answer,  and 
am  so  much  assured  that  the  answer  is  agreeable  to 
what  in  justice  or  reason  you  can  ask,  or  I  in  honor 

1  SeeForster,  Arrest  of  the  Five        2  Echard,  Hist,  of  Eng.  ii.  298, 
Members,  309,  320.  299  (London,  1707). 


1 642.]       THE  BEGINNING   OF  THE   CIVIL    WAR.         147 

grant,  that  I  shall  not  alter  it  in  any  point.  For  my 
residence  near  you  I  wish  it  might  be  so  safe  and 
honorable  that  I  had  no  cause  to  absent  myself  from 
Whitehall :  ask  yourselves  whether  I  have  not.  For 
my  son,  I  shall  take  that  care  of  him  which  shall  jus- 
tify me  to  God,  as  a  father,  and  to  my  dominions  as 
a  King.  To  conclude,  I  assure  you  upon  my  honor, 
that  I  have  no  thought  but  of  peace  and  justice  to 
my  people,  which  I  shall  by  all  fair  means  seek  to 
preserve  and  maintain,  relying  upon  the  goodness 
and  providence  of  God  for  the  preservation  of  myself 
and  my  rights.'  .  .  .  The  answer  being  suddenly 
and  with  unusual  quickness  spoken  by  the  King, 
they  were  much  daunted,  and  presently  retired  them- 
selves to  take  into  consideration  the  terms  of  it,  that 
there  might  be  no  difference  in  the  reporting  it 
to  the  several  houses."  The  Earl  of  Newport,  who 
was  with  the  King,  then  called  out  his  brother,  the 
Earl  of  Warwick,  a  Parliament  man,  to  tell  him  he 
felt  sure  that  they  would  have  a  better  answer  if 
they  would  wait  a  little.  To  this  the  committee  were 
inclined  to  assent,  "  when  suddenly  young  Sir  Henry 
Vane,  a  dark  enemy  to  all  accommodation,  declared 
himself  to  wonder  at  it  and  said,  '  Is  there  any  per- 
son here  who  can  undertake  to  know  the  Parliament's 
mind ;  whether  this  which  we  have,  or  that  which  is 
called  a  more  satisfactory  answer,  will  be  more  pleas- 
ing to  the  two  Houses  ?  For  my  part  I  cannot,  and 
if  there  be  any  that  can,  let  him  speak.' "  No  one 
could  answer  this.  Vane's  outburst  bore  down  his 
associates ;  the  commissioners  departed  without  wait- 
ing, "  which  shows  how  easily  one  subtle  ill-disposed 


148  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1642. 

person  may  overthrow  a  general  good  intention." 
Vane's  stiffness  made  the  King  stiff.  There  was  an- 
other message  a  week  later,  from  Parliament  to 
Charles,  then  at  Newmarket,  when  Charles  was  very 
spirited.  Said  Lord  Pembroke  for  the  Parliament, 
"  '  Will  your  Majesty  then  deign  to  tell  us  what  you 
would  have  ? '  Chas.  '  I  would  whip  a  boy  in  West- 
minster School  that  could  not  tell  that  by  my  an- 
swer.' '  Might  not  the  militia  be  granted  as  desired 
by  Parliament,  for  a  time  ? '  '  No,  by  God  !  not  for 
an  hour ;  you  have  asked  that  of  me  in  this  which 
was  never  asked  of  a  King,  and  with  which  I  would 
not  trust  my  wife  and  children.' " 

Near  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War,  the  office 
which  Vane  had  held  from  the  King,  jointly  with  Sir 
Wm.  Russell,  of  Treasurer  of  the  Navy,  was  restored 
to  him  by  Parliament,  but  now  without  a  colleague. 
Parliament  did  not  make  such  appointments  except 
in  cases  of  necessity.  The  office  was  very  lucrative 
even  in  peace  and  enormously  so  in  war,  being  worth 
nearly  ,£30,000  yearly.  Vane  gave  all  this  up  in  re- 
gard for  the  necessities  of  the  country,  stipulating 
only  for  £1000  a  year  for  his  deputy,  "an  agent  he 
had  bred  up  to  the  business."  Sikes  says  that  at 
this  time  he  was  embarrassed  in  his  private  affairs. 
Just  as  unselfish  was  he  in  his  ambition,  and  Forster 
thinks l  this  may  have  been  the  reason  why  Crom- 
well, and  not  Vane,  became  the  Man  of  the  Com- 
monwealth, a  judgment  quite  too  enthusiastic  to  be 
adopted. 

1  Life  of  Vane,  p.  283. 


1642.]       THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  CIVIL    WAR.         149 

Cavaliers  and  Roundheads  at  length  stood  defi- 
nitely opposed  to  one  another,  and  the  long  word- 
wrangle  deepened  more  and  more  into  the  thunder- 
ous tumult  of  war.  Both  parties  pressed  forward  the 
levying  of  troops,  the  counties  obeying  the  summons 
of  one  side  or  the  other,  according  to  their  disposi- 
tion. The  ranks  of  the  Cavaliers  held  many  who 
were  dissolute,  and  their  quarters  for  the  time  being 
—  sometimes  the  courtyard  of  a  castle,  sometimes  a 
protected  nook  by  a  stream  under  the  open  sky, 
sometimes  the  tap-rooms  of  a  country  village  —  rang 
with  the  clinking  of  glass  and  tankard  and  baccha- 
nalian songs.  But  with  the  revellers  marched  also 
many  a  knightly  soul,  prayerful  after  the  noblest 
fashion,  lamenting  the  errors  of  the  King,  but  believ- 
ing after  all  he  was  more  nearly  right  than  his  rebel- 
lious subjects,  patriotically  sad  over  the  distraction 
of  the  land,  and  longing  for  peace.  The  Round- 
heads, on  the  other  hand,  received  those  generally 
who,  refusing  to  conform  to  the  established  church, 
had  undergone  persecution  until  their  temper  had 
become  that  spirit,  touched  indeed  by  harsh  sever- 
ity, running-  out  into  strange  aberrations  of  fanati- 
cism, often  marked  by  the  narrowest  intolerance,  — 
yet  in  spite  of  all,  perhaps,  the  most  manful  mani- 
festation which  the  world  has  ever  seen,  —  Puritan- 
ism. England  was  about  equally  divided  in  pop- 
ulation, and  also  geographically,  between  the  two 
sides.  The  West  stood  for  the  King ;  the  East, 
including  the  immensely  important  London,  stood 
for  Parliament ;  but  in  each  section  a  considerable 
minority  opposed  the  prevailing  sentiment.  The 


150  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1642. 

host  of  the  King  was  far  more  splendid  and  martial 
than  that  of  Parliament.  It  comprehended  many 
seasoned  soldiers,  and  many  who  readily  became  sol- 
diers, inured  as  they  were  to  the  semi-military  train- 
ing of  hunting  and  the  chase.  This  advantage  was 
offset  by  the  circumstance  that  many  partisans  of  the 
King  were  half-hearted.  The  Roundheads  were 
clumsy  at  weapon -play  and  manoeuvring.  Arms 
cramped  to  yard-sticks  and  plough-handles  must  de- 
velop a  new  set  of  muscles  to  wield  properly  pike 
and  cutlass.  The  cuirass  chafed  painfully  a  body  that 
had  worn  nothing  rougher  than  a  leathern  doublet. 
The  Roundheads,  however,  were  generally  zealous ; 
and  in  good  time  weaver,  smith,  and  shopkeeper 
became  well  knit  and  callous  to  the  work  of  battle. 

After  much  irregular  skirmishing  among  neigh- 
bors, north,  south,  east,  and  west,  through  the  sum- 
mer of  1642,  the  formal  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War 
may  be  fixed  upon  the  23d  of  August,  when  the 
King  set  up  his  standard  at  Nottingham.  Early 
in  September,  the  Earl  of  Essex  went  the  seventy 
miles  from  London  to  Northampton,  where  he  found 
the  twenty  thousand  raw  Parliamentary  levies,  which 
he  had  been  appointed  to  train  and  lead  to  battle. 
With  these  he  marched  westward  toward  the  King, 
who  now  was  gathering  strength  in  the  devotedly 
royalist  shires  toward  Wales,  and  on  the  23d  of  Octo- 
ber, at  Edgehill,  on  the  southern  border  of  Warwick- 
shire, was  fought  the  first  great  battle. 

Leaving  London  one  day  in  August,  the  present 
writer  followed  in  the  track  of  Essex  to  Northamp- 
ton, to-day  a  prosaic  shoe-town,  noted  for  its  radical- 


1642.]      THE  BEGINNING   OF  THE   CIVIL    WAR.         151 

ism,  sending  to  Parliament  the  famous  Bradlaugh. 
The  writer  bowled  on  a  tricycle  over  the  hills  of 
Northamptonshire,  passed  into  Leicestershire,  and 
then  into  Warwickshire,  —  now  an  easy  bit  of  pedal- 
ling along  a  far-extending  level ;  now  a  dismount  and 
tiresome  push  up  a  hill ;  now  a  breathless  rush  from 
the  upland  down  into  the  vale,  while  the  air  sang  in 
your  ears  with  the  swiftness  of  the  coast.  It  was 
lovely  weather  and  a  lovely  land.  The  Avon,  Shak- 
speare's  Avon,  was  followed  from  its  source  through 
a  series  of  pretty  transformations.  First,  it  ran  a 
little  thread  from  its  spring  in  the  garden  of  an  up- 
land inn :  it  went  looping  off  through  the  landscape 
out  of  sight,  to  appear  again  close  by  Lutterworth, 
Wickliffe's  old  home,  as  a  gay  ribbon,  flowers  purple, 
scarlet,  and  blue  throwing  in  their  reflections  from 
the  margin,  until  the  silvery  band  was  edged  with 
brilliant  color.  At  length,  as  he  lay  on  the  church- 
yard grass  behind  the  church  at  Stratford,  for  those 
few  evening  moments,  nearer  to  Shakspeare's  dust 
than  any  other  mortal,  the  river  had  become  a  scarf, 
and  a  Roman-  scarf  at  that,  banded  and  shot  through 
with  the  tints  of  sunset.  Coventry  was  entered  by  a 
broad,  smooth,  oak-shadowed  avenue.  Here,  too,  as 
at  Northampton,  one  finds  himself  on  good  Parlia- 
mentary ground  ;  for  Coventry  counts  it  among  its 
honorable  traditions  that  it  kept  out  the  King.  One 
can  look  up  at  the  heavy-timbered  house,  with  pro- 
jecting upper  stories  and  high-peaked  gable,  from  a 
window  of  which,  in  answer  to  the  King's  Notting- 
ham demonstration,  the  flag  of  Parliament  was  first 
flung  to  the  breeze. 


152  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE,  [1642. 

Southward  from  Stratford  the  writer  saw  lying 
before  him,  at  length,  the  high  outlying  ridge  Edge- 
hill.  From  a  distance,  one  approaching  can  see  the 
outline  of  a  horse,  the  red  soil  showing  through  the 
green  turf,  where  the  spades  of  some  unknown  gen- 
eration carved  out  the  figure  on  the  slope,  as  the 
memorial  of  a  forgotten  battle.  The  writer  doubts 
whether  any  soldier  of  King  or  Parliament  in  the  old 
time,  the  sun  roasting  him  within  his  heavy  iron 
encasement,  heaving  at  a  cannon-wheel  to  help  the 
panting  horses,  worked  harder  than  that  vagabond 
wheelman  to  get  to  the  top  of  the  ridge ;  for  the  tri- 
cycle seemed  to  hang  back  by  a  will  of  its  own  on  the 
road  sloping  so  steeply  toward  the  vertical.  Stand- 
ing on  the  breezy  summit,  however,  he  was  paid  for 
his  pains  by  having  at  his  feet  perhaps  the  finest 
prospect  in  the  English  midlands.  The  guide-book 
said  fourteen  counties  could  be  seen.  At  any  rate, 
blue  to  the  west  were  the  high  Malvern  Hills  by 
Worcester.  Nearer  at  hand  lay  the  levels  of  Glou- 
cester. Oxfordshire  was  close  by,  and  the  fine  roll- 
ing country  of  Northamptonshire  and  Warwickshire, 
which  had  just  been  traversed,  lay  east  and  north. 
All  spread,  that  August  noon,  in  perfect  summer 
beauty  under  bright  sunshine,  the  verdure  brilliant 
through  lately  fallen  rain,  patches  of  forest  dark  on 
vivid  grass,  the  gray  of  church-towers,  the  yellow  of 
freshly  built  wheat  stacks,  a  patch  of  red  now  and 
then  where  the  soil  lay  bare.  The  acres  just  below 
claimed  special  notice,  dignified  as  they  are  by  asso- 
ciation with  a  great  event :  there  it  was  that  Essex 
advancing  from  Warwick,  and  Charles  descending 
the  steep  side  of  Edgehill,  clashed  together. 


1642.]       THE  BEGINNING   OF  THE  CIVIL    WAR.         153 

It  was  mid-afternoon  of  an  October  Sunday,  as  the 
Cavaliers  looked  down  from  the  crest  upon  the  Par- 
liamentary advance.  First  came  cuirassiers.  Boxed 
up  as  each  was  in  his  close-fitting,  articulated  iron 
case,  with  sword  and  lance  for  antennae,  the  nick- 
name "  lobsters,"  which  the  people  sometimes  gave 
them,  was  no  bad  description.  The  troops  of  Den- 
zil  Holies  were  in  scarlet ;  those  of  Lord  Brooke 
wore  purple  ;  those  of  Say  and  Mandeville  blue.  The 
body-guard  of  Essex  himself  were  in  orange,  his  color, 
and  all  the  high  officers  wore  orange  scarfs.  As  to 
arms,  the  musketeers  carried  heavy  matchlocks,  fired 
laboriously  from  a  rest ;  the  foot,  in  general,  pikes 
and  pole-axes  which  admitted  of  quicker  movement. 
The  cavalry  had  a  far  greater  relative  value  then  than 
now :  the  horses  were  powerful ;  the  men  in  close 
armor  carried  long-sword,  carbine,  pistols,  and  some- 
times a  lance.  The  army  of  the  King  varied  little 
in  its  aspect  from  the  Roundheads,  except  perhaps 
in  a  gayer  display  of  scarfs  and  pennons.  Charles 
himself,  like  a  valiant  soldier  as  he  was,  rode  along 
the  line  in  steel  armor,  a  black  velvet  mantle  blowing 
back  from  his  shoulders ;  on  this  an  embroidered  star 
and  his  George  (a  figure  of  St.  George  hanging  upon 
his  breast  by  a  rich  chain)  showed  his  rank. 

To  both  sides  fighting  was  new  business,  but  the 
field  was  bloody.  As  the  writer  paused  for  breath 
once,  making  his  way  up  the  hill,  he  fell  in  with  a 
laborer,  who  pointed  out,  near  by,  an  enclosure  where 
once  he  had  been  set  to  make  a  ditch.  As  he  dug, 
he  broke  into  one  of  the  pits  in  which  the  dead  had 
been  buried,  and  laid  open  with  his  spade  enough  of 


154  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1642. 

the  wreck  of  the  battle  to  give  vivid  suggestion  of 
its  sharpness.  It  was  a  drawn  action,  and  with  a 
glance  at  two  or  three  interesting  figures  who  played 
a  part  there,  we  must  pass  on  to  far  greater  and  more 
decisive  fields.  The  King's  standard-bearer,  Verney, 
had  little  heart  for  his  master's  cause.  It  was,  how- 
ever, his  hereditary  office  to  bear  the  royal  banner : 
this  he  did  even  while  uttering  pathetically  his  dis- 
sent :  he  was  slain  fighting  among  the  King's  red 
regiment,  which  was  cut  all  to  pieces.  Sir  Jacob 
Astley,  a  stout  old  soldier  of  Gustavus,  was  a  most 
knightly  figure.  "  Lord,  thou  knowest  how  busy  I 
must  be  this  day,"  he  prayed.  "  If  I  forget  thee,  do 
not  thou  forget  me."  We  shall  see  Sir  Jacob  on 
other  fields  besides  this  of  Edgehill. 

In  Warwick  Castle,  the  day  before  the  writer  was 
at  Edgehill,  he  saw  one  of  the  most  attractive  of  the 
portraits  of  Vandyke  —  a  handsome  youth,  scarcely 
more  than  twenty,  in  a  corselet  over  a  coat  of  buff 
leather,  beautiful  brown  hair  falling  in  Cavalier  fash- 
ion over  the  broad  linen  collar.  "  As  smooth  as 
Hebe's  is  the  unrazored  lip  "  of  the  portrait,  but  the 
eye  is  bright  with  manly,  martial  energy.  It  is  Prince 
Rupert,  close  upon  the  time  when  he  was  to  become 
famous.  At  Heidelberg  Castle,  one  may  see  the 
nook  where  he  was  born  —  a  hawk's  nest  high  above 
the  Neckar  —  and  the  hawk  is  no  inapt  symbol  of 
this  man  whose  life  was  involved  in  the  wildest 
storms,  whose  glance  was  like  lightning,  whose 
swoop  toward  his  prey  was  resistless,  whose  heart 
was  rapacious  and  merciless.  In  all  the  thousand 
figures  that  become  prominent  in  this  time  of  strug- 


1642.]       THE  BEGINNING   OF  THE   CIVIL    WAR.         155 

gle,  there  is  none  so  picturesque  as  this  young 
prince,  so  haughty  and  cruel  —  so  swift  and  beauti- 
ful. Once  as  a  boy,  with  his  exiled  father  and 
mother  in  Holland,  he  outrode  the  hunters,  pursuing 
a  fox.  The  train  coming  up  saw  the  boots  of  the 
prince  sticking  out  of  a  hole  in  the  bank.  Rupert 
was  pulled  out  by  his  boots,  and  he  pulled  out  by  his 
hind-legs  the  hound  that  had  run  into  the  hole  be- 
fore him  ;  the  hound  in  turn  pulled  out  the  fox,  into 
whose  brush  his  teeth  were  fastened.  Soon  Rupert 
was  running  to  earth  with  just  as  much  dash  far  dif- 
ferent game  than  foxes.  He  was  a  dead-shot  with 
the  pistol ;  proof  of  which,  it  is  said,  may  still  be  seen 
at  St.  Mary's  church  in  Stafford,  where  on  a  wager 
with  his  uncle,  Charles  I,  he  sent  two  bullets  through 
the  weather-cock  on  the  spire.  He  dislocated  his 
shoulder  while  riding  hard  to  join  the  King  before 
the  raising  of  the  standard,  but  made  nothing  of  it, 
developing,  even  while  crippled,  into  a  splendid  cav- 
alry leader.  Caught  near  Worcester  by  Roundhead 
troopers,  while,  with  armor  laid  aside,  his  horsemen 
were  bivouacking  under  the  trees  out  of  the  heat,  he 
sprang  into  the  saddle  bareheaded  and  uncorseleted, 
and  had  the  foe  presently  captured,  a  Tartar  quite 
too  prompt  for  the  promptest.  If  to  his  courage  and 
persistence  could  have  been  united  good  judgment, 
he  might  have  been  a  great  soldier.  To  a  head  like 
that  of  Wallenstein  or  Gustavus,  what  an  arm  he 
might  have  been  !  But  he  brooked  no  superior  save 
the  King,  and  even  the  King  gave  way  to  him.  In 
the  landscape  of  his  time  his  fame  is  as  the  flash  of 
a  sword-blade,  the  waving  of  a  brilliantly-dyed  scarf : 


156  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY   VANE.  [1642. 

it  catches  the  eye  for  a  moment,  but  is  utterly  unsub- 
stantial. 

It  is  said  that  as  Rupert  led  the  King's  vanguard 
down  Edgehill,  the  church-bells  could  be  heard  ring- 
ing in  the  lowland.  The  ministers  could  be  seen 
going  from  rank  to  rank  among  the  Parliamentari- 
ans ;  it  was  known  that  battle  was  near,  and  both  in 
soul  and  in  loins  the  Puritans  took  care  to  gird  them- 
selves well.  Rupert,  as  usual,  in  his  charge  scattered 
all  before  him,  but,  as  always,  he  went  too  fast  and 
too  far.  He  met  at  last  a  band  of  men  in  green  com- 
ing on  with  the  cannon,  led  by  a  hero  whose  name 
comes  down  from  that  time  enshrined  in  a  steady 
glory  in  strong  contrast  with  the  fitful  flicker  of  Ru- 
pert's fame,  John  Hampden.  At  Edgehill  his  ser- 
vice was  conspicuous,  and  the  hope  of  the  people  in 
these  times  was  more  and  more  centring  upon  him 
as  the  battle-leader  appointed  by  God ;  but  he  fell 
before  the  troopers  of  Rupert  at  Chalgrove  Field, 
before  a  year  had  passed,  the  most  effective  blow  for 
his  uncle  that  Hotspur  ever  struck.  The  success 
of  the  cavalry  at  Edgehill  was  cancelled  elsewhere ; 
so  that  although  Essex  withdrew  toward  Warwick, 
the  King  found  it  prudent  also  to  draw  off  toward 
Oxford.  In  the  memoirs  of  the  time  come  down  pic- 
turesque and  pathetic  touches  —  how  the  soldiers,  as 
the  sweat  of  battle  dried  off,  found  their  armor, 
chilled  by  the  frosty  night  air,  a  cold  covering,  and 
tramped  about  to  keep  themselves  warm  ;  how  the 
King  and  Rupert,  on  the  slope  of  Edgehill,  watched 
out  the  night,  toasting  themselves,  as  less  exalted 
personages  might  have  done,  by  the  flame  of  a 
brushwood  fire. 


1642.]      THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE   CIVIL    WAR.          157 

After  Edgehill  the  King  managed  to  take  the  ini- 
tiative soonest,  and  was  presently  threatening  Lon- 
don. A  battle  took  place  in  November,  at  Brentford 
in  the  suburbs,  and  but  for  a  fine  display  of  spirit  by 
the  Londoners  under  the  lead  of  Skippon,  the  King 
might  have  ended  the  war  then  and  there.  On  No- 
vember 7,  when  affairs  were  most  threatening,  a  com- 
mittee of  both  Houses  was  sent  to  the  city  to  ac- 
quaint it  "  with  all  the  ways  Parliament  has  used  to 
procure  a  treaty  of  peace  without  being  able  to  effect 
it,  and  to  quicken  them  to  a  resolution  of  defending 
and  maintaining  their  liberties  and  religion  with  their 
lives  and  fortune."  l  Of  this  committee  young  Sir 
Henry  Vane  was  an  important  member,  and  a  spokes- 
man. 

The  King  withdrew  to  Oxford  to  winter-quarters, 
and  except  that  there  was  desultory  fighting  every- 
where, the  war  paused.  A  strong  feeling  in  favor  of 
peace  pervaded  Parliament  and  the  nation,  but  there 
was  no  possibility  of  reaching  terms  of  agreement. 
Young  Vane  led  the  opposition  in  the  Commons  to 
the  disposition  to  come  to  terms  before  grievances 
were  redressed.  If  Parliament  began  to  treat  with 
the  King,  it  was  urged,  it  would  grow  careless  in  its 
own  defence.2  But  misfortunes  came  thick.  The 
Queen,  who  had  fled  to  Holland,  returned  with  arms 
and  ammunition.  Landing  in  the  midst  of  hostile 
cannon-fire,  the  daughter  of  Henri  Quatre  showed 
her  intrepidity,  and  soon  at  York  gathered  about  her 
a  spirited  force  headed  by  the  Duke  of  Newcastle. 
She  was  dexterous  in  negotiation  as  she  was  spirited 

1  Old  Parliamentary  History.         2  Gardiner,  Great  Civil  War,  i.  91. 


158  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1643. 

in  the  field,  and  the  peace-party  in  Parliament,  more 
than  ever  active,  sent  commissioners  to  Oxford  in 
March.  Young  Vane  was  on  the  committee  to  ex- 
amine and  report  upon  these  negotiations,  which 
came  to  nothing,  and  immediately  after  was  chair- 
man of  a  committee  to  stir  up  the  zeal  of  the  city 
and  collect  contributions.1  On  the  3ist  of  May  a 
dangerous  plot  was  discovered  at  the  head  of  which 
was  the  base  time-server  and  graceful  poet  Edmund 
Waller,  and  on  the  committee  of  leaders  appointed 
"  with  power  to  send  for  any  persons  and  examine 
them,  and  to  commit  them  if  they  see  cause,  and  to 
seize  on  their  papers  and  to  meet  when  and  where 
they  please,  and  to  do  whatsoever  they  think  good 
to  prevent  the  danger  threatened  to  the  safety  of 
the  kingdom  and  city,"  —  with  Pym,  St.  John,  Sir 
Gilbert  Gerard,  and  Glyn,  we  find  again  the  younger 
Vane.  All  was  felt  to  be  imperilled,  and  no  trust 
could  be  heavier  than  that  imposed  upon  these  five 
men. 

As  there  was  treachery  within,  so  there  was  dis- 
aster without.  There  had,  to  be  sure,  been  Parlia- 
mentary successes.  When  Charles,  leaving  London 
the  year  before,  had  gone  to  the  North,  at  a  great 
meeting  upon  Heyworth  Moor,  a  vigorous  young 
knight,  Sir  Thomas  Fairfax,  forcing  his  way  to  the 
side  of  the  King,  had  laid  upon  the  pommel  of  his 
saddle  a  petition  little  to  the  King's  taste.  Spurring 
his  horse  impatiently,  Charles  nearly  overthrew  the 
young  knight.  We  shall  see  how  large  a  part  he 
was  to  play  in  the  overthrow  of  the  King.  Already 

1  Commons  Journals. 


I643-]      THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  CIVIL    WAR.          159 

in  1643  Sir  Thomas  Fairfax  with  his  father,  Lord 
Fairfax,  had  done  much  in  the  North  for  Parliament. 
Sir  William  Waller  had  had  such  success  in  the 
South  and  West  as  to  receive  the  name  "  William  the 
Conqueror."  The  Earl  of  Manchester,  whom  shortly 
before,  as  Lord  Kimbolton,  the  King  had  tried  to 
seize  at  the  same  time  with  the  Five  Members,  was 
at  the  head  of  the  eastern  counties,  confederated  for 
Parliament.  The  same  Colonel  Cromwell,  so  ill- 
dressed  and  slovenly  in  the  eyes  of  the  Cavalier 
dandies  of  the  first  months  of  the  Long  Parliament, 
was  already  famed  for  several  dashing  exploits.  As 
summer  advanced,  however,  misfortune  followed  mis- 
fortune. Essex  was  unmistakably  sluggish  with 
the  Parliament's  main  army.  Waller  was  defeated 
at  Roundway  Down  and  elsewhere,  Fairfax  at  Ath- 
erton  Moor.  Hull,  at  the  North,  for  which  young 
Vane  sat  in  Parliament,  was  on  the  point  of  surren- 
der to  Newcastle  and  the  Queen.  Bristol,  the  second 
city  of  the  kingdom,  did  surrender  to  Rupert.  Heavi- 
est blow  of  all,  on  the  i8th  of  June,  at  Chalgrove 
Field,  Hampden  received  a  mortal  wound.  "  How 
can  it  be  otherwise  ?  "  the  hard  rider  Cromwell  had 
said  just  before  to  his  cousin  Hampden,  as  they 
talked  of  defeats.1  "  Your  horse  are  for  the  most 
part  worn-out  serving  men,  tapsters,  and  people  of 
that  sort ;  theirs  are  the  sons  of  gentlemen,  men  of 
quality.  Do  you  think  such  poor  vagabonds  as  your 
fellows  have  soul  enough  to  stand  against  gentlemen 
full  of  resolution  and  honor  ?  Take  not  my  words 
ill :  I  know  you  will  not :  you  must  have  fellows 

1  Guizot,  English  Revolution,  207,  New  York,  1846. 


l6o  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1643. 

animated  by  a  spirit  that  will  take  them  as  far  as  the 
King's  gentlemen,  or  you  '11  always  be  beaten.  I  can 
do  something  toward  it  and  I  will :  I  '11  raise  men 
who  will  have  the  fear  of  God  before  their  eyes,  and 
who  will  bring  some  conscience  to  what  they  do,  and 
I  promise  you  they  shall  not  be  beaten."  The  King, 
flushed  with  success,  denied  to  Parliament  all  legal 
status.  But  hearts  were  still  stout  in  the  ranks  of  his 
foes. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE  SOLEMN  LEAGUE  AND  COVENANT. 

YOUNG  Sir  Henry  Vane  was  never  a  soldier,  but 
there  is  reason  for  thinking  that  in  the  summer  of 
1643  he  came  near  leaving  Westminster  in  order 
to  try,  by  command  of  the  Parliament,  the  fortunes 
of  the  field.  After  Hampden's  death,  Essex,  deprived 
of  his  wise  guidance,  wrote  an  ill-considered  letter  to 
Parliament,  counselling  an  application  to  the  King 
for  peace.  He  advised  that  "his  Majesty  may  be 
desired  to  absent  himself  from  the  scene  of  conten- 
tion," apparently  out  of  his  tenderness  for  the  King ; 
also,  "  that  both  armies  might  be  drawn  up  near  the 
one  to  the  other,  that  if  peace  be  not  concluded,  it 
might  be  ended  with  the  sword."  The  proposal  of 
Essex  was  taken  ill  both  by  the  Lords  and  Commons, 
Vane  in  particular  observing  with  bitter  sarcasm,  as 
we  are  informed  by  Sir  Symonds  d'Ewes,1  "  that  since 
we  had  neglected,  upon  the  several  messages  of  the 
Lords,  to  entertain  the  consideration  of  sending  prop- 
ositions to  his  Majesty,  the  Lord-General  had  done 
well  to  stir  us  up  to  it,  although  our  fatherly  care  of 
the  kingdom  should  have  preceded  his  lordship's 
care.  He  also  observed  that  the  purport  of  his  lord- 

1  Quoted  by  Sanford,  Great  Rebellion,  p.  570,  etc. 


1 62  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1643. 

ship's  letter  was,  that  if  we  would  send  propositions 
of  peace  to  his  Majesty,  and  they  did  not  take  effect, 
that  then  he  would  do  his  duty."  And  not  till  then  — 
seemed  to  be  the  plain  implication.  Vane  afterwards 
made  a  formal  apology,  but  Essex,  who,  though  slug- 
gish, was  honorable  and  well  meaning,  upon  receiv- 
ing word  of  the  speech,  was  cut  to  the  quick.  July 
1 3,  he  wrote :  "  I  shall  advance,  God  willing,  at  far- 
thest on  Friday.  I  have  often  desired  that  a  com- 
mittee of  both  Houses  might  be  sent  to  be  a  witness 
of  our  integrity  to  the  service  of  the  state.  ...  If 
it  may  stand  with  the  convenience  of  the  House  of 
Commons,  I  shall  entreat  the  favour  that  Sir  Henry 
Vane  the  younger  may  be  an  eye-witness  of  our  ac- 
tions, he  being  an  intimate  friend  of  mine,  and  who 
by  his  constant  carriage  in  the  Parliament,  which 
hath  gotten  him  a  good  reputation  in  all  places,  may 
be  a  true  testimony  of  our  actions,  it  being  of  huge 
advantage  to  keep  a  good  correspondence  betwixt  the 
Parliament  and  their  servants  the  army.  He  is  be- 
sides a  man  I  put  so  much  trust  in,  as  that,  if  he 
pleaseth,  I  shall  go  hand  and  hand  with  him  to  the 
walls  of  Oxford." 

"  All  men,"  says  d'Ewes,  "  easily  saw  this  letter  to 
be  spoken  in  a  scoffing  way ;  .  .  .  yet  few  did  approve 
my  Lord-general  therein,  in  respect  that  he  did  strike 
at  the  foundation  of  the  liberty  and  privilege  of  Par- 
liament, if  men  might  not  be  suffered  to  speak  their 
minds  freely  there."  1 

The  Earl,  perhaps,  scarcely  intended  to  be  taken  at 
his  word,  but  there  is  some  evidence  to  show  that 

1  Sanford,  pp.  573,  574. 


1643-]      THE  SOLEMN  LEAGUE  AJVD   COVENANT.     163 

the  Commons  entertained  the  idea  of  sending  Vane 
to  represent  them  with  the  army. 

Says  the  "  Mercurius  Aulicus,"  a  news  sheet  of 
Cavalier  temper,  published  two  or  three  times  a  week, 
many  numbers  of  which  are  preserved  in  the  Thom- 
asson  Tracts :  — 

"  It  was  advertized  that  on  the  death  of  Mr.  Hamp- 
den,  whom  the  lower  House  had  joined  as  a  coadjutor 
with  the  Earle  of  Essex,  or  rather  placed  as  a  super- 
intendant  over  him,  to  give  them  an  account  of  his 
proceedings,  they  had  made  choice  of  Sir  Henry 
Vane  the  Younger  to  attend  that  service,  who  having 
had  a  good  part  of  his  breeding  under  the  holy  minis- 
ters of  New  England,  was  thought  to  be  provided 
of  sufficient  zeal,  not  only  to  inflame  his  excellency's 
cold  affections,  but  to  kindle  a  more  fiery  spirit  of 
rebellion  in  his  wavering  souldiers." l 

The  passage  quoted  contains  a  suggestion  of  the 
utmost  interest  to  Americans.  Vane,  it  was  felt, 
would  be  a  good  man  to  fan  the  flagging  zeal  of  the 
General  and  the  troops,  because  he  had  been  under 
American  influences.  What  grounds  had  men  in 
those  days  for  supposing  that  the  spirit  of  rebellion 
which  was  driving  England  so  fiercely  into  conflict 
against  the  arbitrary  King,  was  related  to  America  ? 

American  ideas  Pym  and  Hampden  cannot  be  said 
to  have  had,  for  they  by  no  means  wished  to  do  away 
with  royalty  or  privileged  classes,  or  to  show  a  gen- 
eral toleration  to  varying  forms  of  faith.  They  de- 
sired simply  to  restore  the  proper  balance  to  the 
ancient  triple-pillared  polity  of  King,  Lords,  and 

1  Forster,  Life  of  Hampden,  p.  253. 


1 64  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1643. 

Commons,  which  the  Sovereigns  had  disturbed  by 
their  overweening  claims  of  prerogative  ;  there  had 
been  no  assertion,  even  among  those  who  talked  most 
freely,  of  a  wish  beyond  this.  Not  Cromwell  or  Vane 
or  any  other  army  or  Parliamentary  leader  had  as  yet 
gone  farther ;  but  things  were  about  to  undergo  a  sud- 
den transformation.  One  hears  much  to-day  of  the 
reaction  of  the  new  world  upon  the  nations  of  the  old 
world.  Europe,  America  claims,  and  the  old  world 
admits,  has  been  wonderfully  modified  by  influences 
which  go  back  from  us.  The  very  earliest  instance 
that  can  be  traced  of  a  reaction  from  America  upon 
England,  is  to  be  assigned  to  the  time  which  we  have 
now  reached,  and  a  principal  channel  of  that  influ- 
ence was  our  young  Sir  Henry  Vane.  Now  it  was 
that  the  Independents  began  to  rise  in  power,  destined 
in  time  to  supersede  the  Presbyterians,  who  since  the 
beginning  of  the  Civil  War  had  been  in  vast  majority 
among  those  opposed  to  the  King.  Independency 
was  often  referred  to  in  those  days  as  the  "  New 
England  Way,"  and  a  brief  sketch  will  make  plain 
the  appropriateness  of  the  title. 

The  first  hint  at  Independency  is  perhaps  to  be 
found  in  the  writings  of  Zwingle.1  It  first  took  form 
in  England,  however  ;  then  developed  fully  in  Amer- 
ica. While  Prelacy  was  dominant  in  the  time  of 
Elizabeth  and  James,  little  congregations  of  Brown- 
ists,  or  Separatists,  appeared  here  and  there  in  Eng- 
land, some  of  which  went  to  Holland,  so  magnani- 
mously hospitable  in  those  narrow  days  to  varying 
shades  of  faith.  One  such  congregation  became  at 

1  Doyle,  The  English  in  America,  vol.  i.  p.  9. 


1643-3      THE  SOLEMN  LEAGUE  AND  COVENANT.    165 

last  the  Pilgrims  of  Plymouth.  Winthrop  and  his 
band,  arriving  in  America  ten  years  later,  though 
nominally  at  first  adherents  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, were  at  any  rate  hostile  to  the  efforts  of  Laud  ; 
and  as  the  struggle  deepened  in  the  effort  to  drive 
through  the  policy  of  "  Thorough,"  both  in  the  Old 
Colony  and  in  Massachusetts  Bay,  a  body  of  con- 
gregations came  to  exist,  owning  the  sway  of  neither 
Bishop  nor  Synod,  but  each  independent  as  regarded 
its  government.  To  be  sure,  there  was  here  small 
toleration,  as  we  have  seen.  New  England  had  a 
reputation  for  freedom  which  she  did  not  at  all  de- 
serve, and  which  the  voices  of  her  champions  fiercely 
repudiated  as  the  worst  possible  stigma  which  could 
rest  upon  her  fair  fame.  "  We  have  been  reputed," 
says  the  valiant  Nathaniel  Ward,1  "a  colluvies  of 
wild  opinionists,  swarmed  into  a  remote  wilderness 
to  find  elbow-roome  for  our  phanatick  doctrines 
and  practices.  I  trust  our  diligence  past  and  con- 
stant sedulity  against  such  persons  and  courses,  will 
plead  better  things  for  us.  I  dare  take  upon  me  to 
bee  the  herauld  of  New  England  so  farre  as  to  pro- 
claime  to  the  world,  in  the  name  of  the  Colony,  that 
all  Familists,  Antinomians,  Anabaptists,  and  other 
enthusiasts,  shall  have  free  liberty  to  keep  away  from 
us  ;  and  such  as  will  come  to  be  gone  as  fast  as  they 
can,  the  sooner  the  better." 

New  England  offered  to  Baptists  the  hospitality 
of  the  ducking-pond,  to  Quakers  the  cart's  tail  and 
the  scourge,  to  High-Churchmen  a  most  unceremoni- 
ous shouldering  out.  When  now  in  the  Puritanism 

1  Simple  Cobbler  of  A  ggawam,  Pulsifer's  ed.  p.  3,  etc. 


1 66  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1643 

opposed  to  Charles  the  sectaries  began  to  grow  pow- 
erful, who  taught  that  each  congregation  should  be 
independent,  not  only  of  Bishop,  but  also  of  Synod, 
and  that  as  one  of  their  number,  a  certain  John  Mil- 
ton, declared,  **'  New  Presbyter  was  but  old  Priest 
writ  large,"  the  New  England  example  had  much  to 
do  with  it,  and  not  only  books,  but  men  also  crossed 
the  Atlantic  to  foment  the  schism.  The  great  lead- 
ers of  English  Independency  among  the  ministers 
were  a  certain  noble  scholar  and  preacher,  Dr.  John 
Owen,  afterwards  chaplain  to  Cromwell  and  Fairfax, 
and  a  man  of  note  until  late  in  the  century;  Dr. 
Thomas  Goodwin,  a  member  of  the  Assembly  of  Di- 
vines; Hugh  Peters,  who  was  once  more  in  Eng- 
land; and  Philip  Nye,  of  whom  we  shall  presently 
know  more.  To  these  must  be  joined  the  laymen, 
Cromwell,  now  not  at  Westminster  but  fast  growing 
famous  in  the  army  of  the  Parliament ;  Milton,  be- 
coming noted  as  a  pamphleteer ;  and  young  Sir 
Henry  Vane. 

Says  a  writer  who  has  studied  the  subject  with 
great  thoroughness : l  "  The  polity  of  the  strong  men, 
Goodwin,  Owen,  Peters,  Vane,  Milton,  Cromwell,  and 
their  fellows,  to  whom  under  God,  was  confided  the 
immediate  future  of  England,  was  moulded  in  the 
freer  life  and  thought  of  New  England,  by  their  cor- 
respondents and  fellow-workers,  Cotton,  Williams, 
and  their  fellows.  England  in  her  agony,  looked  to 
New  England  for  counsel,  got  it  and  followed  it,  un- 
til she  too  had  a  Commonwealth."  The  proposition 

1  J.  Wingate  Thornton,  "The  wealth."  Boston,  1874,  pp.  33,  71. 
Historical  Relation  of  New  Eng-  I  am  indebted  to  Mr.  H.  E.  Scud- 
land  to  the  English  Common-  der  for  my  knowledge  of  this  book. 


1643.]       THE  SOLEMN  LEAGUE  AND   COVENANT.     l6j 

is  startling  enough,  that  the  great  English  Common- 
wealth, with  its  heroic  record,  came  out  of  that  little 
spot  in  New  England  Boston  now  known  as  Pem- 
berton  Square,  but  something  can  be  said  to  sustain 
it.  The  Independents  built  up  the  Commonwealth ; 
and  that  the  relation  of  this  corner  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts city  to  the  development  of  Independency 
was  most  important  can  be  shown  in  short  space. 
In  what  is  now  Pemberton  Square  lived  John  Cot- 
ton, the  ablest  of  the  Massachusetts  ministers,  and 
young  Sir  Henry  Vane.  No  one  character  can  so 
justly  be  called  the  father  of  Independency  as  John 
Cotton.  Baillie,  in  1645,  charges  Cotton  with  be- 
ing "  if  not  the  author,  yet  the  greatest  promoter 
and  patron  of  Independency,  a  man  of  very  excellent 
parts,  of  great  wit  and  learning,  the  great  instrument 
of  drawing  to  it  not  only  the  thousands  of  those 
who  left  England,  but  many  in  Old  England,  by  his 
letters  to  his  friends.  The  best  of  the  Brownist  [or 
Independent]  arguments  are  brought  in  the  greatest 
lustre  and  strength  in  Mr.  Cotton's  work,  "  The  Way 
of  the  Churches."  * 

The  ideas  of  the  "  Way  of  the  Churches  of  Christ 
in  New  England,"  and  of  another  book  by  Cotton 
written  about  the  same  time,  "  The  Doctrine  of  the 
Church  to  which  is  Committed  the  Keyes  of  the 
Kingdom  of  Heaven,"  both  of  which  had  a  great  cir- 
culation in  England,  are  plainly  shown  in  the  follow- 
ing extracts : — 

"  No  church  hath  power  of  government  over  an- 
other, but  each  of  them  hath  chiefe  power  within 

1  Quoted  by  Thornton,  pp.  53,  54. 


1 68  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY   VANE.  [1643. 

itselfe,  and  all  of  them  equall  power  one  with  an- 
other ;  every  church  hath  received  alike  the  power  of 
binding  and  loosing,  opening  and  shutting  the  King- 
dom of  Heaven.  Finally  all  of  them  are  candle- 
sticks of  the  same  precious  metall,  and  in  the  midst 
of  them  all  Christ  equally  walketh."  1 

"  Though  one  church  claim  no  power  either  of 
Ordination  or  Jurisdiction  over  another,  (for  we 
know  of  none  such  given  us  by  Christ),  yet  wee 
maintain  brotherly  Communion  one  with  another,  so 
far  as  wee  may  also  help  forward  our  mutuall  Com- 
munion with  the  Lord  Jesus." 2 

John  Owen  and  Thomas  Goodwin  were  in  Eng- 
land, says  Anthony  a  Wood,  "  the  Atlases  and  patri- 
archs of  Independency."  Among  the  laymen  beyond 
all  others  in  power  were  Cromwell  and  Vane.  How 
did  these  foremost  English  Independents  stand  re- 
lated to  John  Cotton  ?  Owen  declares  that  he  was 
converted  to  Independency  by  Cotton's  "  Keyes,"s 
while  Goodwin,  likewise  his  convert,  was  the  princi- 
pal medium  for  the  diffusion  in  England  of  Cotton's 
writings.  Philip  Nye  was  not  less  affected.  "  Master 
Cotton  did  take  Independency  up  ancl  transmit  it  to 
Master  Goodwin,  who  did  help  to  propagate  to  sun- 
dry others  in  Old  England  first,  and  after  to  more  in 
Holland,  till  now,  by  many  hands  it  is  sown  thick  in 
divers  parts  of  this  kingdom." 4  To  Cromwell,  Cotton 
was  an  "esteemed  friend"  to  whom  he  wrote  with 
affection  and  reverence ; 5  while  it  is  scarcely  too 

1  The  Keyes,  p.  1 2.  4  Baillie     in    1645,    quoted    by 

2  Way  of  the   Churches,  chap.     Thornton,  p.  54. 
vi.  Sec.  i.  6  Carlyle,  ii.  9. 

8  Thornton,  p.  54. 


1643.]     THE  SOLEMN  LEAGUE  AND   COVENANT.      169 

much  to  say  that  Vane  was  "  trained  in  Cotton's 
study."  l  There  on  the  steep  side-hill  of  the  Tri- 
mountain  the  two  men  lived  together  during  Vane's 
New  England  sojourn.  To  the  minister's  house  the 
young  Governor  made  an  addition,  turning  his  prop- 
erty over  to  his  friend's  family  when  the  time  came 
for  his  departure.  Under  that  roof  they  took  counsel 
together  while  the  Pequots  threatened  :  there  they 
strengthened  one  another  in  the  dreadful  days  of  the 
Hutchinsonian  controversy,  when  the  whole  colony 
turned  against  them  and  the  Boston  Church :  there 
they  labored  together  over  a  code  of  laws,  which  was 
found  in  Cotton's  study  after  his  death.  It  was  with- 
out doubt  while  in  communion  with  this  powerful 
character  that  the  youth  imbibed  the  spirit  with 
which  he  became  charged.  The  spot  ought  indeed 
to  be  held  in  veneration,  upon  which  once  stood  the 
dwelling  of  John  Cotton  and  Henry  Vane ! 2 

Like  the  New  England  so  the  Old  England  Inde- 
pendency regarded  for  the  most  part,  at  first,  only 
the  matter  of  Church  government,  Independents  no 
less  than  Presbyterians  subscribing  to  the  Calvinistic 
formulae,  and  being  often  very  intolerant.  We  for- 
get  how  modern  the  idea  of  Toleration  is.  A  trace 
of  it  may  be  found  in  "  More's  Utopia  "  and  French 
writers  of  the  i6th  century,  but  the  first  perception 
of  the  full  principle  of  liberty  of  conscience  belongs 
to  the  English  Separatists,  the  Baptists  in  particu- 

1  Thornton,  pp.  56,  57.  is  still  extant.     See  a  communica- 

2  There  is  some  reason  for  sup-  tion  of  Mr.  D.  T.  V.  Huntoon  to  the 
posing  that  a  considerable  portion  Boston  Transcript,  Monday,  July 
of  this  house,  removed   from  its  30,  1883. 

Boston  site  to  the  town  of  Canton, 


170  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1643. 

lar.1  We  find  it  announced  by  English  Baptists  in 
Holland  in  1611.  Soon  after,  in  Leyden  stands  the 
reverend  figure  of  John  Robinson,  who  scarcely  falls 
short  of  the  Baptists,  advocating  a  broad  charity  to- 
wards those  of  different  faith,  and  freely  admitting 
that  as  regards  the  creed  which  he  himself  professes, 
more  light  in  the  future  must  be  looked  for.  His 
congregation  became  the  Pilgrims,  the  "  Mayflower  " 
company.  The  noble  pastor,  to  be  sure,  never  set 
foot  upon  the  new  world,  but  something  of  his  spirit 
survived  among  the  flock.  Soon  we  find  Vane  pro- 
claiming, in  the  controversy  with  Winthrop,  the  idea 
of  Toleration,  and  side  by  side  with  him  the  free- 
tongued  enthusiast  Roger  Williams. 

Very  early  the  spirit  of  Independency  in  Old  Eng- 
land became  freer  than  in  New  England,  and  that 
freedom  came  more  and  more  to  prevail.  After  the 
meeting  of  the  Long  Parliament,  Toleration  seemed 
to  rush  into  the  air.  Churchmen  as  well  as  Puritans 
were  working  that  way ;  the  names  of  Fuller,  Chil- 
lingworth,  and  Jeremy  Taylor  among  these  should 
stand  in  letters  of  light.  Just  at  the  crisis  when  the 
days  for  the  Parliament  were  the  darkest,  in  June, 
1643,  no  other  than  Roger  Williams  himself  appeared 
in  London,  known  and  beloved  by  Vane  since  they 
two  had  struck  hands  together  to  ward  off  the  Pe- 
quot  scalping-knives.  He  was  Vane's  guest  at  his 
house  in  London,  at  his  seat  of  Belleau  in  Lincoln- 
shire. One  can  imagine  how  Vane's  tendencies  must 
have  quickened  under  the  stimulus  to  which  he  was 
now  subjected ;  for  Roger  Williams,  driven  to  com- 

1  Masson,  Life  of  Milton,  iii.  98,  etc. 


1643-]     THE  SOLEMN  LEAGUE  AND  COVENANT.      171 

bat  by  the  narrowness  of  John  Cotton  and  Richard 
Mather,  was  about  to  proclaim  liberty  of  conscience 
to  the  world  in  tones  never  more  to  be  silenced.  Al- 
ready he  was  burning  with  the  thoughts  and  yearn- 
ings which  in  a  few  months  were  to  be  poured  into 
that  epoch-making  book,  "  The  Bloudy  Tenent  of 
Persecution  for  Cause  of  Conscience  Discussed  in  a 
Conference  between  Truth  and  Peace." l  Its  bold 
and  passionate  tone  may  be  judged  from  a  few  of  the 
marginal  summaries :  "  Evil  is  always  evil,  yet  per- 
mission of  it  may  in  case  be  good."  "  Christ  Jesus 
the  deepest  politician  that  ever  was,  and  yet  he  com- 
mands a  toleration  of  anti-Christians."  "  Seducing 
teachers,  either  Pagan,  Jewish,  Turkish,  or  anti- 
Christian,  may  yet  be  obedient  subjects  to  the  civil 
laws."  "  Christ's  lilies  may  flourish  in  his  church 
notwithstanding  the  abundance  of  weeds  in  the  world 
permitted."  "  Forcing  of  men  to  godliness  or  God's 
worship  the  greatest  cause  of  the  breach  of  civil 
peace."  "  The  civil  magistrate  owes  two  things  to 
false  worshippers :  i.  Permission,  2.  Protection." 

In  the  preface  to  the  "  Bloudy  Tenent "  Roger 
Williams  refers  to  one  whom  Gardiner  supposes  can 
have  been  none  other  than  young  Sir  Henry  Vane. 
"  Mine  ears  were  glad  and  late  witnesses  of  an 
heavenly  speech  of  one  of  the  most  eminent  of  that 

1  Mr.  Gardiner,  while  paying  a  Tenent,"  which  Masson  has  over- 
high  tribute  to  Masson's  account  looked.  It  is  called  "  Liberty  of 
of  the  rise  of  Toleration  (Civil  Conscience,"  and  excited  no  atten- 
War,  I,  337,341),  calls  attention  to  tion  whatever.  It  is  to  be  found 
an  exceedingly  noble  tract  which  among  the  Thomasson  Tracts^ 
preceded  by  three  or  four  months  xxxix.  But  even  this  would  shut 
the  publication  of  the  "  Bloudy  out  Catholics. 


172  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1643. 

High  Assembly  of  Parliament:  'Why  should  the 
labours  of  any  be  suppressed,  if  sober,  though  never 
so  different  ?  We  now  profess  to  seek  God,  we  de- 
sire to  see  light ! ' 

As  Vane  grew  in  Independency,  he  grew  also  in 
the  spirit  of  Toleration,  and  recognizing  the  narrow- 
ness of  his  old  New  England  associates,  from  whom 
yet  he  had  gained  so  much,  he  at  this  time  lovingly 
urged  them  to  unite  liberty  of  conscience  with  the 
ecclesiastical  freedom  in  which  they  had  led  the  way, 
in  the  letter  to  Winthrop  which  has  already  been 
given.1 

"  The  exercises  and  troubles  which  God  is  pleased 
to  lay  upon  these  kingdoms  and  the  inhabitants  in 
them,  teach  us  patience  and  forbearance  one  with 
another  in  some  measure,  though  there  be  difference 
in  our  opinions." 

So  things  stood  in  the  summer  of  1643.  The 
cause  of  the  Houses  was  languishing.  Independency 
was  rising,  an  American  idea,  and  foremost  among 
its  professors  stood  young  Sir  Henry  Vane. 

If  Parliament  had  ever  entertained  the  thought  of 
sending  Vane  into  the  field  to  replace  Hampden,  it 
was  abandoned,  for  he  was  required  for  a  more  im- 
portant service.  Hard  pressed  as  the  Houses  were, 
there  was  nothing  for  it  but  to  call  in  help  from  out- 
side. Why  not  appeal  to  the  Scots,  our  brethren  in 
faith,  though  under  a  different  ecclesiastical  order  ? 
our  brethren,  too,  under  the  harrow  of  persecution? 
Early  in  July,  Pym  had  taken  action  looking  toward 

1  See  p.  81. 


1 643.]     THE  SOLEMN  LEAGUE  AND   COVENANT.      173 

this.1  From  the  Lords  at  length,  Lord  Grey  of 
Warke  and  the  Earl  of  Rutland,  —  and  from  the  Com- 
mons, Sir  Wm.  Armyne,  Thomas  Hatcher,  and  young 
Sir  Henry  Vane,  were  made  a  committee  to  entreat 
for  Scotch  aid :  to  obtain  this  aid  on  terms  at  all 
tolerable  was  in  a  high  degree  difficult.  Lord  Grey 
refused  and  was  sent  to  the  Tower:  Rutland  with- 
drew under  plea  of  sickness :  the  Commoners  alone 
remained,  among  whom  Vane  was  the  only  significant 
figure.  At  great  length  they  were  instructed  to  "  de- 
sire that  both  nations  may  be  straitly  united  and  tied 
for  our  mutual  defence  against  the  Papists  and  Pre- 
latical  Faction,  and  their  adherents  in  both  kingdoms, 
and  not  to  lay  down  arms  until  they  shall  be  disarmed 
and  subjected  to  the  authority  and  justice  of  Parlia- 
ment in  both  kingdoms  respectively."  With  the  Com- 
mittee were  to  go  two  ministers,  Stephen  Marshall  and 
Philip  Nye,  the  former  a  stiff  Presbyterian,  in  high 
repute  for  eloquence  and  character,  while  the  latter 
was  already  well  known  as  one  of  the  Independents. 
Both  ministers  were  members  of  the  great  Westmin- 
ster Assembly  of  Divines,  —  a  body  convened  by 
Parliament  and  at  this  time  sitting  side  by  side  with 
it,  to  render  help  in  settling  ecclesiastical  matters, 
which,  now  that  the  old-church  government  was  abro- 
gated through  the  efforts  of  the  "  Root  and  Branch  " 
men,  required  a  thorough  reorganization. 

The  committee  departed  for  Edinburgh  by  sea, 
the  roads  northward  being  in  Cavalier  hands.  A  de- 
spondency prevailed  which  co-uld  scarcely  have  been 
deeper.  At  the  beginning  of  August,  proposals  for 

1  Old  Parliamentary  History,  under  date. 


174  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1643. 

peace  were  adopted  by  both  Houses,  which,  says 
Clarendon,1  if  they  had  been  sent  to  the  King,  would 
have  been  accepted,  so  far  did  they  surrender  the 
points  in  dispute.  Essex  was  weary  of  the  war  in 
which  he  was  chief  commander,  and  the  disposition 
was  becoming  general  to  submit :  the  recourse  to  the 
Scots  was  regarded  as  so  "  desperate  a  cure  "  that 
the  nobles  refused  to  go.  But  for  the  spirit  of  Lon- 
don, all  would  have  been  lost.  Amid  popular  tu- 
mults, the  city  presented  a  petition  which  caused  the 
Commons  to  withdraw  from  the  reactionary  policy. 
Nor  was  the  zeal  of  London  merely  a  matter  of 
words.  Gloucester,  the  most  important  fortress  left 
to  Parliament  in  the  Midlands,  was  hard  pressed; 
if  it  fell,  it  would  indeed  be  a  coup  de  grace,  and  the 
London  train-bands  marched  forth  to  its  relief.  The 
town  and  garrison  were  well  worthy  to  be  succored. 
When,  on  August  10,  they  were  summoned,2  "with 
the  trumpeter  returned  two  citizens  from  the  town, 
with  lean,  pale,  sharp,  and  bald  visages,  indeed  faces 
so  strange  and  unusual,  and  in  such  garb  and  fea- 
ture, that  at  once  made  the  most  severe  counte- 
nances merry.  .  .  .  The  men  without  any  circum- 
stances of  duty  or  good  manners,  in  a  pert,  shrill, 
undismayed  accent,  said  c  that  they  had  brought  an 
answer  from  the  godly  city  of  Gloucester  to  the 
King,'  and  were  so  ready  to  give  insolent  and  sedi- 
tious answers  to  any  question,  as  if  their  business 
were  chiefly  to  provoke  the  King  to  violate  his  own 
safe-conduct."  When  they  left,  within  a  few  paces 
of  Charles  they  put  on  their  caps  which  bore  orange 

1  iii.  1746.  3  Clarendon,  iii.  1470. 


1643-]     THE  SOLEMN  LEAGUE  AND   COVENANT.     175 

cockades,  the  color  of  Essex.  The  town  would  hold 
out  for  the  London  train-bands. 

It  was  a  weary  sail  for  young  Sir  Henry  Vane  and 
his  colleagues  during  those  critical  weeks.  They 
left  London  on  the  2oth  of  July,  not  reaching  Leith, 
the  seaport  of  Edinburgh,  until  the  7th  of  August.1 

The  negotiation  which  was  now  to  take  place  pro- 
duced very  memorable  results.  The  power  of  Vane 
was  perhaps  never  more  conspicuously  shown :  no 
passage  in  his  career,  moreover,  has  been  so  turned 
to  his  discredit,  for  many  read  in  his  conduct  nothing 
but  duplicity.  Was  a  man  of  free  impulses  ever  put 
in  a  harder  place  than  Vane,  when  he  was  forced  to 
undertake  the  Scotch  negotiation?  Help  was  only 
to  be  had  from  Scotland,  but  the  Scotch  were  relent- 
less persecutors.  He  went  from  the  companionship 
of  Roger  Williams  to  deal  with  men  who,  with  all 
their  virtues,  were  the  narrowest  bigots  of  Protestan- 
tism. What  a  crushing  down  of  his  nature  there 
must  have  been  as  he  encountered  that  repugnant 
atmosphere ! 

The  graphic  Baillie  gives  an  account  of  the  recep- 
tion of  Vane  and  his  colleagues  by  the  Convention 
of  Estates  and  the  Assembly  of  Ministers,  both  then 
in  session,  the  latter  considering  among  other  busi- 
ness, "  the  late  extraordinary  multiplying  of  witches, 
especially  in  Fifeshire." 

"  For  the  present  the  Parliament  side  is  running 
down  the  brae.  They  would  never  in  earnest  call  for 
help  till  they  were  irrecoverable ;  now  when  all  is 
desperate  they  cry  aloud  for  help :  and  how  willing 

1  Spalding,  Hist,  of  the  Troubles,  under  date. 


I  76  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1643. 

we  are  to  redeem  them  with  our  lives  you  shall  hear. 
The  8th,  Qth,  and  loth  of  August,  the  Moderator 
showed  that  two  of  the  English  ministers  had  been 
at  him,  requiring  to  know  the  most  convenient  way 
of  their  commissioners'  address  to  the  synod." 1  .  .  . 
The  Assembly  accordingly  named  a  committee  of 
nine,  who,  joined  with  others  appointed  for  the  same 
purpose  by  the  Convention  of  Estates,  met  the  Eng- 
lish envoys.  "  When  we  were  met,  four  gentlemen 
appeared,  Sir  William  Armyn,  Sir  Henry  Vane  the 
younger,  one  of  the  gravest  and  ablest  of  that  nation, 
Mr.  Hatcher  and  Mr.  Darley,  with  two  ministers, 
Mr.  Marshall  and  Mr.  Nye. 

"  They  presented  to  us  a  paper  introduction,  drawn 
up  by  Mr.  Marshall,  a  notable  man,  and  Sir  Harry, 
the  drawers  of  all  their  writs,  .  .  .  also  their  com- 
mission  and  a  declaration  of  both  Houses  to  our 
General  Assembly,  shewing  their  care  of  reforming 
religion,  their  desire  of  some  from  our  Assembly  to 
join  with  their  divines  for  that  end ;  likewise  a  letter 
from  their  Assembly,  showing  their  permission  from 
the  Parliament  to  write  to  us,  and  their  invitation  of 
some  of  us  to  come  for  their  assistance ;  further  a 
letter,  subscribed  by  above  seventy  of  their  divines, 
supplicating  in  a  most  deplorable  style,  help  from  us 
in  their  present  most  desperate  condition.  The  let- 
ter of  the  private  divines  was  so  lamentable  that  it 
drew  tears  from  many.  .  .  .  Above  all,  diligence  was 
urged ;  for  the  report  was  going  already  of  the  loss 
of  Bristol,  from  which  they  feared  his  Majesty  might 

1  Baillie  :  a  Journal  of  the  General  Assembly,  1643,  Sept.  22,  to  Mr. 
William  Spang,  p.  374,  etc. 


1 643.]     THE  SOLEMN  LEAGUE  AND   COVENANT.      IJJ 

march  for  London  and  carry  it.  For  all  this  we  were 
not  willing  to  precipitate  a  business  of  such  conse- 
quence." 

The  Scotch  wished  to  help  the  English,  but  dif- 
fered about  the  way.  "  One  night  all  were  bent  to 
go  as  ridders l  and  friends  to  both,  without  siding  al- 
together with  Parliament.  This  was  made  so  plausi- 
ble that  my  mind  was  with  the  rest  for  it ;  but  Wa- 
riston  showed  the  vanity  of  that  motion  and  the 
impossibility  of  it.  In  our  committee  also  we  had 
hard  enough  debates.  The  English  were  for  a  civil 
league,  we  for  a  religious  covenant.  When  they  were 
brought  to  us  in  this,  and  Mr.  Henderson  had  given 
them  the  draught  of  a  covenant,  we  were  not  like  to 
agree  on  the  frame ;  they  were,  more  than  we  could 
assent  to,  for  keeping  of  a  door  open  in  England  to 
Independency.  Against  this  we  were  peremptor. 
At  last  some  two  or  three  in  private  accorded  to  that 
draught,  which  all  our  three  committees,  from  our 
States,  from  our  Assembly,  and  the  Parliament  of 
England,  did  unanimously  assent  to.  From  that 
meeting  it  came  immediately  to  our  Assembly.  .  .  . 
The  minds  of  the  most  part  was  speired  [asked],  both 
of  ministers  and  elders ;  where,  in  a  long  hour's  space, 
every  man,  as  he  was  by  the  moderator  named,  did 
express  .his  sense  as  he  was  able.  After  all  consider- 
able men  were  heard,  the  catalogue  was  read,  and  all 
unanimously  did  assent. 

"  Thursday  August  17,  was  our  joyful  day  of  pass- 
ing the  English  covenant.  The  King's  commissioner 
the  Earl  of  Hamilton  made  some  opposition ;  and 

1  Mediators. 


178  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1643. 

when  it  was  so  passed,  as  I  wrote  before,  gave  in  a 
writ,  wherein  he,  as  the  King's  commissioner,  having 
prefaced  his  personal  hearty  consent,  did  assent  to 
it,  so  far  as  concerned  the  religion  and  liberties  of  our 
church  ;  but  so  far  as  it  concerned  the  Parliament  of 
England  with  whom  his  majesty,  for  the  present,  was 
at  odds,  he  did  not  assent  to  it.  The  moderator  & 
Argyle  did  always  so  overawe  his  grace,  that  he  made 
us  not  great  trouble.  Friday  the  i8th,  a  comm.  of 
eight  were  appointed  for  London,  of  whom  any  3 
were  a  quorum.  Henderson,  Douglas,  Rutherford, 
Gillespie,  I,  Maitland,  Cassilis,  Warriston.  Our  last 
session  was  on  Saturday,  the  igth.  The  moderator 
ended  with  a  gracious  speech  and  sweet  prayer.  In 
no  assembly  was  the  grace  of  God  more  evident 
from  the  beginning  to  the  end  than  here ;  all  de- 
parted fully  satisfied. 

"  2oth.  On  the  Sabbath  before  noon,  in  the  new 
church,  we  heard  Mr.  Marshall  preach  with  great 
contentment.  But  in  the  afternoon,  in  the  Gray 
friars,  Mr.  Nye  did  not  please.  His  voice  was  clam- 
orous :  he  touched  neither  in  prayer  nor  preaching 
the  common  business.  He  read  much  out  of  his 
paper-book.  All  his  sermon  was  on  the  common 
head  of  spiritual  life,  wherein  he  ran  out  above  all 
our  understandings  upon  a  knowledge  of  God  as 
God,  without  the  scriptures,  without  grace,  without 
Christ.  They  say  he  amended  it  somewhat  the  next 
Sabbath." 

Let  us  take  a  Cavalier  view  of  this  memorable  ne- 
gotiation. "  Sir  Harry  Vane  was  one  of  the  commis- 
sioners, and  therefore  the  others  need  not  be  named, 


1 643-]     THE  SOLEMN  LEAGUE  AND   COVENANT.     179 

since  he  was  all  in  any  business  where  others  were 
joined  with  him.  .  .  .  There  hath  been  scarce  any- 
thing more  wonderful  throughout  the  progress  of 
these  distractions  "  than  the  passage  of  the  Covenant, 
"when  the  main  persons  were  as  great  enemies  to 
Presbytery  as  they  were  to  King  or  Church.  And 
he  who  contributed  most  to  it,  and  who  in  truth  was 
the  principal  contriver  of  it,  and  the  man  by  whom 
the  committee  in  Scotland  was  entirely  and  stupidly 
governed,  Sir  H.  Vane  the  younger,  was  not  after- 
wards more  known  to  abhor  the  Covenant,  and  the 
Presbyterians,  than  he  was  at  that  very  time  known 
to  do,  and  laughed  at  them  then,  as  much  as  ever  he 
did  afterwards.  He  was  indeed  a  man  of  extraordi- 
nary parts,  a  pleasant  wit,  a  great  understanding, 
which  pierced  into  and  discerned  the  purposes  of 
other  men  with  wonderful  sagacity,  whilst  he  had 
himself  vultum  clausum,  that  no  man  could  make  a 
guess  of  what  he  intended.  He  was  of  a  temper  not 
to  be  moved,  and  of  rare  dissimulation,  and  could 
comply  when  it  was  not  seasonable  to  contradict 
without  losing  ground  by  the  condescension ;  and 
if  he  were  not  superior  to  Mr.  Hampden  he  was  infe- 
rior to  no  other  man,  in  all  mysterious  artifices. 
There  need  no  more  be  said  of  his  ability,  than  that 
he  was  chosen  to  cozen  and  deceive  a  whole  nation, 
which  excelled  in  craft  and  cunning :  which  he  did 
with  notable  pregnancy  and  dexterity,  al.d  prevailed 
with  a  people,  that  could  not  otherwise  be  prevailed 
upon  than  by  advancing  their  idol  Presbytery,  to 
sacrifice  their  peace,  their  interest,  and  their  faith  to 
the  erecting  a  power  and  authority  that  resolved  to 


l8o  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1643. 

execute  Presbytery  to  an  extirpation  ;  and  very  near 
brought  their  purpose  to  pass.  .  .  .  Vane  (who 
equally  hated  Episcopacy  and  Presbytery,  save  that 
he  wished  the  one  abolished  with  great  impatience, 
believing  it  much  easier  to  keep  the  other  from  being 
established,  whatever  they  promised,  than  to  be  rid 
of  that  which  is  settled  in  the  kingdom)  carefully  con- 
sidered the  Covenant,  and  after  he  had  altered  and 
changed  many  expressions  in  it,  and  made  them 
doubtful  enough  to  bear  many  interpretations,  he 
and  his  fellow -commissioners  signed  the  whole 
treaty."  1 

^30,000  a  month  were  to  be  paid  to  the  Scots  by 
the  English  Parliament,  ,£100,000  in  advance,  before 
a  Scottish  army  crossed  the  border.  A  committee 
from  Scotland  was  to  sit  at  Westminster  in  connec- 
tion with  an  English  committee,  each  empowered 
with  equal  authority  for  carrying  on  the  war,  and  no 
treaty  of  peace  was  to  be  made  without  the  consent 
of  both  kingdoms.  A  most  critical  and  important 
negotiation  having  been  in  this  way  promptly  con- 
cluded, a  document  at  length  comes  forth  destined 
to  great  fame  under  the  name  of  the  Solemn  League 
and  Covenant. 

Clarendon  was  no  more  thoroughly  persuaded  of 
the  ability  and  duplicity  of  young  Sir  Harry  Vane 
throughout  this  affair,  than  the  Cavaliers  in  general. 

"  Wise  observers  wondered  to  see  a  matter  of 
that  high  importance  carried  through  with  little  or 
no  deliberation  or  debate  .  .  .  which  made  all  appre- 
hend there  was  some  first  mover  that  directed  all 

1  Clarendon,  Bk.  vi.  vol.  iv.  1582. 


1 643-]     THE  SOLEMN  LEAGUE  AND  COVENANT.     l8l 

those  inferior  motions.  This  by  one  party  was  im- 
puted to  God's  extraordinary  providence,  but  by  oth- 
ers to  the  power  and  policy  of  the  leaders,  and  the 
simplicity  and  fear  of  the  rest.  .  .  .  The  main  of  it 
indeed  was  managed  by  the  superior  cunning  and 
artifice  of  Sir  Henry  Vane,  who  as  Dr.  Gumble  tells, 
was  very  earnest  with  the  Scots  to  have  the  whole 
called  a  league,  as  well  as  a  covenant,  and  argued  it 
almost  all  night  and  at  last  carried  it.  He  held  an- 
other debate  about  church  government,  which  was  to 
be  '  according  to  the  example  of  the  best  reformed 
churches.'  He  would  have  it  only  '  according  to  the 
Word  of  God ; '  but  after  a  great  contest  they  joined 
both  and  the  last  had  the  precedence.  One  of  his 
companions  afterward  asking  him  the  reason,  why 
he  should  put  them  to  so  much  trouble  with  such 
needless  trifles,  he  told  him  he  was  mistaken  and 
did  n't  see  far  enough  into  that  matter ;  for  a  league 
showed  it  was  between  two  nations,  and  might  be 
broken  upon  just  reasons,  but  not  a  covenant.  For 
the  other,  the  church  government,  *  according  to  the 
word  of  God,'  by  the  difference  of  divines  and  expo- 
sition would  be  long  before  it  would  be  determined. 
For  the  learnedest  held  it  clearly  for  Episcopacy ;  so 
that  when  all  are  agreed,  we  may  take  in  the  Scotch 
Presbytery." 1 

Echard,  as  a  boy,  might  have  heard  old  Cavaliers 
talk  of  the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant.  To  Sir 
Philip  Warwick,  Vane  is  "sly  Sir  Henry  Vane,"2 
while  Hume  speaks  of  his  "  artifice,"  declaring  that 
he  used  "  his  great  talents  in  overreaching  the  Pres- 

1  Echard,  ii.  p.  449,  etc.  a  Memoirs,  p.  296. 


1 82  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1643. 

byterians,  and  secretly  laughed  at  their  simplicity."  1 
The  Scotch  came  soon  after  to  take  a  view  of  Vane 
not  less  severe  than  that  of  the  Royalists ;  Baillie, 
among  others,  to  whom  during  the  negotiations  the 
imposing  man  of  thirty-one  had  been  "  that  sweet 
youth,"  at  last  regarding  him  as  the  main  enemy  of 
what  was  to  be  held  most  sacred.  How  far  can  any 
stigma  here  properly  attach  to  Vane  ?  In  his  youth, 
as  we  have  seen,  he  became  familiar  at  Vienna  with 
the  wiles  of  a  most  intriguing  Court.  In  the  affair 
of  Strafford,  perhaps  his  conduct  is  not  free  from  a 
suspicion  of  unfairness.  We  shall  find  him  here- 
after, as  we  have  already  found  him,  the  deftest  man- 
ager of  his  party,  as  regards  the  foe  without  and  the 
factions  within  into  which  the  Parliamentarians  be- 
came presently  split.  As  he  was  shrewd  in  his  own 
contriving,  so  beyond  all  others  he  was  acute  in  pen- 
etrating the  devious  ways  of  others.  What  basis  is 
there  in  the  facts  for  the  charge  of  "  overreaching  " 
or  "  cozening  "  that  was  brought  against  him  in  the 
matter  of  the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant  ? 

When  Vane  appeared  at  Leith,  with  his  colleagues 
after  their  protracted  voyage,  one  may  believe  that 
his  powers  were  stimulated  to  the  utmost.  For  his 
party,  all  had  been  on  the  brink  of  failure  three  weeks 
before,  when  the  commissioners  left  London.  The 
sole  hope  for  the  cause  in  which  his  heart  was  bound 
up  was  in  winning  the  Scots,  and  it  must  be  done 
instantly ;  perhaps  it  was  already  too  late.  The 
impression  which  he  always  made,  wherever  he  ap- 
peared, seems  to  have  been  unusually  strong  upon 

1  Hume,  vol.  vi.  261,  262. 


1643-]     THE  SOLEMN  LEAGUE  AND   COVENANT.     183 

the  Estates  and  the  Assembly.  The  Scots,  to  be 
sure,  were  not  at  all  averse  to  the  alliance  which  the 
Parliament  sought :  they  had  plenty  of  old  scores 
against  Charles  which  they  longed  to  wipe  off. 
What  made  the  negotiation  critical  was  the  different 
end  which  each  nation  sought.  "  The  English  were 
for  a  civil  league,  we  for  a  religious  covenant,"  says 
Baillie.  Vane,  guiding  the  negotiation  for  the  Eng- 
lish, made  no  secret  apparently  of  his  dislike  for 
narrow  restrictions.  "  They  were  more  than  we 
could  assent  to  for  keeping  of  a  door  open  in  Eng- 
land to  Independency,"  says  Baillie  ;  and  Clarendon 
admits  that  Vane,  by  whom  the  committee  "  were 
entirely  and  stupidly  governed,  was  not  afterwards 
more  known  to  abhor  the  Covenant  and  the  Presby- 
terians than  he  was  at  that  very  time  known  to  do." 
Vane,  apparently,  was  straightforward  in  avowing 
what  he  stood  for. 

What  he  did  precisely  was  this :  Alexander  Hen- 
derson, presiding  officer  of  the  Assembly,  the  ablest 
and  noblest  of  the  Covenanters,  the  greatest  name 
in  the  Scotch  Kirk  since  the  time  of  John  Knox,1 
had  drawn  up  the  agreement,  following  in  the  main 
the  lines  of  the  Covenant  of  1638,  which  Scotland 
had  solemnly  and  tearfully  entered  ir.to  against  the 
usurpations  of  Laud.  To  this  Vane  offered  amend- 
ments tending  to  greater  vagueness  in  the  religious 
part,  and  greater  prominence  in  the  civil.  In  the 
title  he  introduced  the  word  League?  and  in  the  first 
article  he  inserted  twice  a  phrase,  accepted  at  last  by 

1  Masson,  Life  of  Milton,  iii.        2  Neal,  History  of  the  Puritans, 
1 6.  iii.  91. 


184  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1643. 

the  Scots,  but  which  the  English  were  hereafter  to 
take  advantage  of  as  a  "  door  left  open  for  Indepen- 
dency." The  first  article,  namely,  had  stipulated,1 
"  that  we  shall  all  and  each  one  of  us  sincerely, 
really,  and  constantly,  through  the  grace  of  God,  en- 
deavor in  our  several  callings  and  places  the  preser- 
vation of  the  true  Protestant  reformed  religion  in  the 
Church  of  Scotland,  in  doctrine,  worship,  discipline, 
and  government,  and  the  reformation  of  religion  in 
the  Church  of  England,  according  to  the  example  of 
the  best  reformed  churches."  As  amended  by  Vane, 
the  article  read,  "  the  Church  of  Scotland  in  doctrine, 
worship,  discipline,  and  government  according  to  the 
Word  of  God,  and  the  reformation  of  religion  in  the 
Church  of  England  according  to  the  same  Holy  Word 
and  the  example  of  the  best  reformed  Churches." 
The  inserted  expressions  had  then  a  significance 
which  they  have  not  now.  Slight  as  these  changes 
seem,  if  we  can  trust  Echard  as  just  quoted,  the  in- 
sertion of  League  in  the  title  was  brought  about  only 
after  an  all  night  debate.  Vane  wished  to  strike  out 
entirely  the  phrase  "  according  to  the  example  of  the 
best  reformed  Churches,"  substituting  simply  the 
"  Word  of  God,"  and  the  compromise  through  which 
both  phrases  at  last  appeared  in  the  article  was 
brought  about  only  after  another  long  debate. 

As  to  the  remainder  of  Echard's  story,  that  Vane 
deliberately  plotted  "  to  take  in  the  Scotch  Presby- 
tery," it  must  be  rejected.  Echard's  authority  is  by 
no  means  the  best,  and  we  have  testimony,  which  no 
candid  mind  will  treat  otherwise  than  most  rever- 

1  Gardiner,  Great  Civil  War,  i.  270. 


1643-]     THE  SOLEMN  LEAGUE  AND   COVENANT.     185 

ently,  that  Vane  was  honest  in  his  negotiation,  and 
was  greatly  troubled  at  the  charge  of  chicanery  in 
the  matter,  which  Royalists  and  Presbyterians  hurled 
at  him  as  long  as  he  lived.  It  was  almost  the  last 
subject  which  occupied  his  thoughts.  After  his  con- 
demnation in  1662,  in  certain  "reasons  for  an  arrest 
of  Judgment"  which  he  left  behind,  he  states  in 
beautiful  terms  the  interpretation  which  he  put  upon 
the  Covenant. 

"  I  will  not  deny  but  that  as  to  the  manner  of  pro- 
secution of  the  Covenant  to  other  ends  than  itself 
warrants,  and  with  a  rigid  oppressive  spirit,  to  bring 
all  dissenting  minds  and  tender  consciences  under 
one  uniformity  of  church-discipline  and  government, 
it  was  utterly  against  my  judgment.  For  I  always 
esteemed  it  more  agreeable  to  the  word  of  God,  that 
the  ends  and  work  declared  in  the  Covenant  should 
be  promoted  in  a  spirit  of  love  and  forbearance  to 
differing  judgments  and  consciences,  that  thereby  we 
might  be  approving  ourselves  '  in  doing  that  to  others 
which  we  desire  they  would  do  to  us  ; '  and  so,  though 
upon  different  principles,  be  found  joint  and  faithful 
advancers  of  the  reformation  contained  in  the  Cove- 
nant, both  public  and  personal."1  The  last  words 
which  he  put  upon  paper,  just  before  laying  his  head 
upon  the  block,  were :  "  That  noble  person,  whose 
memory  I  honor,2  was  with  myself  at  the  beginning 
and  making  of  the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant; 
the  nature  of  which,  and  the  holy  ends  therein  con- 

1  State  Trials,  vi.  p.  197.  prized  by  Vane,  whom  the  reader 

2  The  reference  is  to  the  Mar-    will  come  to  know,  who  had  suf- 
quis  of  Argyle,  a   friend    highly    fered  his  doom  at  an  earlier  time. 


1 86  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1643. 

tained  I  fully  assent  unto,  and  have  been  as  desirous 
to  observe ;  but  the  rigid  way  of  prosecuting  it,  and 
the  oppressing  uniformity  that  hath  been  endeavored 
by  it,  I  never  approved.  This  were  sufficient  to  vin- 
dicate me  from  the  false  aspersions  and  calumnies 
which  have  been  laid  upon  me,  of  Jesuitism  and 
Popery,  and  almost  what  not,  to  make  my  name  of 
ill  savour  with  good  men  ;  which  dark  mists  do  now 
dispel  of  themselves,  or  at  least  ought,  and  need  no 
pains  of  mine  in  making  an  apology.  For  if  any 
man  seek  a  proof  of  Christ  in  me,  let  him  read  it  in 
this  action  of  my  death,  which  will  not  cease  to  speak 
when  I  am  gone :  And  henceforth  let  no  man 
trouble  me,  for  I  bear  in  my  body  the  marks  of  the 
Lord  Jesus." 

To  a  biographer  of  Vane,  this  is  almost  like  a 
voice  from  the  grave.  The  "  dark  mists "  are  dis- 
pelled and  "  need  no  pains  of  ours  in  making  an 
apology."  The  Scots  understood  that  England  as- 
sumed their  own  narrow  Presbyterianism,  with  its 
complete  intolerance :  Vane  and  his  friends  gave  the 
instrument  a  different  interpretation,  which  they 
honestly  felt  it  would  bear.  It  will  appear  how  a 
chasm  at  last  opened  between  them  which  drank 
much  blood. 

The  Solemn  League  and  Covenant,  as  the  title 
now  stood,  one  of  the  most  memorable  documents 
in  the  history  of  the  English-speaking  race,  occupies 
about  four  pages  of  Neal.1  We  need,  however,  not 
occupy  ourselves  further  with  its  diffuse  phraseology. 
There  were  clauses  providing  for  the  abolition  of 

1  History  of  the  Puritans,  iii.  92-95.     American  ed.  1816. 


I643-]     THE  SOLEMN  LEAGUE  AND  COVENANT.     187 

Episcopacy  in  England,  the  maintenance  of  the 
rights  of  the  Parliaments  of  the  two  countries,  and 
the  bringing  to  trial  of  incendiaries  and  malignants. 
It  was  at  once  accepted  by  the  Scotch  Assembly, 
and  on  August  17,  by  the  Estates.1  Vane's  work 
brought  an  army  of  twenty  thousand  hardy  Scots  to 
the  succor  of  the  perishing  Parliament,  to  command 
whom  a  veteran  was  selected  who  probably  was  at 
that  time  held  to  be  the  best  soldier  of  Great  Britain ; 
this  was  Alexander  Leslie,  Earl  of  Leven,  a  captain 
seasoned  under  the  great  Gustavus,  and  who,  as  de- 
fender of  Stralsund,  had  performed  no  less  a  feat  of 
arms  than  to  foil  the  terrible  Wallenstein.  On  the 
26th  of  August,  the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant 
reached  London,  where  it  was  immediately  acted 
upon  by  Parliament  and  the  Assembly  of  Divines. 
Gloucester  was  still  unrelieved ;  the  sword  of  the 
King's  vengeance  still  hung  over  them  suspended  as 
it  were  only  by  a  thread.  The  Scotch  Commission- 
ers who  were  to  reside  in  England  during  the  alli- 
ance soon  arrived,  among  them  Henderson,  Johnston 
of  Wariston,  and  Baillie,  and  the  25th  of  September 
was  appointed  as  the  day  when  the  Parliament  and 
Assembly  of  Divines  should  swear  to  and  sign  the 
agreement  in  the  church  of  St.  Margaret. 

St.  Margaret's  stands,  in  its  modest  proportions, 
to-day  as  it  did  then,  in  the  shadow  of  Westminster 
Abbey.  The  mural  reliefs,  the  tombs,  the  columns 
of  the  interior  rise  as  of  old,  broken  here  and  there, 
perhaps  by  Roundhead  blows,  and  darkened  by  the 
heavy  air  of  London.  Into  this  thronged  on  the 

1  Gardiner,  Great  Civil  War,  i.  272. 


1 88  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1643. 

appointed  day  the  ministers  in  gown  and  bands, 
and  the  men  from  St.  Stephen's,  girt  with  the  sword 
and  with  brows  heavy  with  anxiety,  as  befitted  the 
gloomy  time.  It  should  have  seemed  ominous  to 
the  Scots  that  Philip  Nye  the  Independent,  who  had 
found  little  favor  in  Edinburgh,  was  appointed  to 
preach.  Nye  took  occasion  to  remind  his  hearers 
that  the  Covenant  did  not  bind  them  to  a  servile 
imitation  of  their  northern  brethren.1  Nevertheless 
the  Scots  took  no  offence.  The  solemn  ceremony 
which  bound  the  nations  together  was  concluded, 
and  among  the  signatures  the  names  of  Vane  and 
Cromwell  are  side  by  side. 

1  Gardiner,  Civil  War^  i.  276. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE    COMMITTEE   OF   BOTH    KINGDOMS. 

WHEN  the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant  was 
adopted,  Parliament  had  just  lost  the  two  great  chiefs 
upon  whom  so  far  it  had  mainly  depended.  Hamp- 
den  had  died  of  his  wound  in  the  summer,  and  now 
Pym,  fast  sinking  under  a  mortal  disease,  was  with- 
drawn. Of  the  men  now  at  the  front,  John  Selden, 
a  man  of  sixty,  represented  Oxford  University,  a 
scholar  of  vast  reputation,  of  cool  and  sceptical 
spirit,  whose  motto  was  "  Liberty  above  everything," 
rather  a  critic  than  an  actor.  He  was  the  typical 
"  Erastian,"  the  party  that  put  the  civil  above  the 
ecclesiastical  power,  in  reality  a  free  thinker,  and  a 
sore  thorn  in  the  side  to  the  ministers  with  his  deli- 
cate mockery.  Oliver  St.  John,  a  man  of  forty-six, 
solicitor-general,  had  great  fame  as  a  lawyer,  dating 
from  his  famous  defence  of  Hampden  in  the  ship- 
money  case.  He  was  proud  and  reserved,  of  a  dark 
and  clouded  countenance,  and  was  called  "  the  dark 
lantern  man  "  of  the  Puritans.  His  wife  was  a  cousin 
of  Cromwell.  Henry  Marten  was  a  man  of  forty-two 
from  Berkshire,  who,  strangely  enough,  in  this  stern 
circle,  was  a  loose  liver  and  great  wit.  He  was  a 
soldier  as  well  as  a  statesman,  and  bore  himself  in 


190  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1643. 

either  field  with  a  devil-may-care  good-natured  reck- 
lessness that  makes  his  career  a  refreshing  streak  in 
the  gloomy  Civil  War  annals,  however  unexemplary 
it  may  have  been.  "  His  company  was  incomparable, 
but  he  would  be  drunk  too  soon.  His  speeches  were 
never  long,  but  wondrous  pertinent,  poignant  and 
witty.  He  would  often  turn  the  whole  House  by  a 
happy  jest."1  He  used  often  to  take,  says  the  old 
writer,  in  the  House  "  dog  sleep,"  which  we  may  un- 
derstand no  doubt  as  a  "  cat  nap."  One  day,  when 
he  was  thus  dozing,  a  dull  member  then  upon  his 
feet,  indignant  at  the  slight,  moved  that  he  should 
be  put  out.  Marten,  whose  wits  were  always  about 
him,  started  at  once  to  his  feet  with,  "  Mr.  Speaker, 
a  motion  has  been  made  to  turn  out  the  nodders  : 
I  desire  the  noddees  may  also  be  turned  out."  His 
ideas  were  of  the  broadest,  and  he  came  at  last  to  be 
called  atheist  and  communist.  He,  perhaps,  was  the 
very  earliest  Republican  of  the  Long  Parliament. 
In  this  very  summer  of  1643,  he  had  said  in  his  place 
it  was  "  better  one  family  should  be  destroyed  than 
many,"  naming  the  King  and  his  children,  and  hint- 
ing at  a  government  without  a  King,  an  utterance 
for  which  he  had  been  sent  to  the  Tower.  Although 
so  much  of  a  scape-grace,  he  was  a  favorite  in  his 
generation.  Those  cropped  and  steeple-hatted  coun- 
sellors, fighting  their  terrible  battle,  forgot  their 
perils  in  bursts  of  hearty  laughter  over  his  sallies, 
and  now  they  are  almost  the  only  humorous  relief 
that  can  be  found  in  the  tragic  history. 

1  Aubry,   quoted  by   Anthony  a   Wood,   Athena  Oxonienses,  art 
"  Marten." 


I643-]     THE   COMMITTEE   OF  BOTH  KINGDOMS.       IQI 

With  these  men  must  be  put  Bulstrode  Whit- 
locke,  a  solid  lawyer,  for  reform  on  the  whole,  but 
much  influenced  by  personal  considerations,  a  man 
bound  by  precedents,  and  exceedingly  useful  in  va- 
rious high  official  positions,  carrying  as  he  did  a 
thread  of  legal  order  through  tumults  that  some- 
times became  anarchy,  during  the  whole  long  dis- 
turbance. By  no  means  his  least  important  service 
was  the  compiling  of  his  "  Memorials,"  one  of  the 
best  authorities  for  the  time. 

Of  far  higher  significance  than  the  men  mentioned 
were  Cromwell  and  young  Sir  Henry  Vane,  who 
much  surpassed  the  others  in  the  qualities  of  leader- 
ship ;  and  since  Cromwell  for  years  was  to  be  mainly 
a  soldier,  it  was  upon  the  shoulders  of  Vane,  now  just 
thirty-one  years  old,  that  the  mantle  fell  of  the  dying 
Pym.  "  He  was  that  within  the  House  that  Crom- 
well was  without." * 

Already  before  the  end  of  September,  affairs  for 
Parliament  had  a  better  look.  The  London  train- 
bands saved  Gloucester,  and  on  their  return  under 
Essex  fought  a  brave  battle  at  Newbury,  which, 
though  not  decisive,  was  more  nearly  a  victory  for 
Parliament  than  for  the  King.  Hull  in  the  North 
had  maintained  itself.  After  the  signing  of  the  Cove- 
nant, most  of  the  Westminster  Assembly,  the  flower 
of  the  Puritan  clergy,  went  home  with  resolute  hearts 
to  calm  and  encourage  their  people.  In  the  sober 
fashion,  prayers  were  held  each  day  in  London,  and 
at  the  drum-beat  the  people  went  out  to  work  on  the 

1  Baxter,  Calamy's  Abridgment  of  Baxter's  Life,  p.  98. 


192  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1643. 

defences.  The  tide  seemed  to  be  turning  at  last, 
and  in  the  Parliament  there  was  a  general  bracing 
up  of  spirits.  On  the  26th  of  October,1  Vane  made 
a  relation  in  Parliament  of  the  negotiation  in  Scot- 
land. We  must  think  of  him,  in  these  days,  as  much 
at  the  bedside  of  Pym,  who  at  length,  on  the  8th  of 
December,  ended  his  great  struggle.  For  a  last 
solemn  service  to  his  friend  and  teacher,  Vane,  as 
one  of  ten  of  the  leaders  of  the  Commons,  lent  his 
shoulder  to  the  coffin  as  Pym  went  to  his  grave  in 
Westminster  Abbey.  Young  Sir  Harry  now  stood 
in  his  place :  one  thinks  that  the  serious  brow  must 
have  assumed  a  new  shade  of  gravity,  as  in  the  great 
funeral,  the  Commons  in  procession  before,  and  the 
multitude  behind,  he  marched  in  the  dim  wintry  day 
down  the  lofty  aisle. 

It  was  only  gradually  that  Vane's  Independency 
became  revealed.  No  doubt,  at  first,  however  it  may 
have  been  the  case  that  a  liberal  utterance  some- 
times fell  from  him,  he  was  uncertain  himself  of  his 
ground.  To  the  unsuspecting  Baillie  and  his  col- 
leagues of  the  Scotch  Commissioners  now  in  London, 
he  was  "  that  sweet  man  Pym's  successor,"  though 
very  soon  they  begin  to  take  on  a  different  tone. 
The  hour  pressed,  and  even  while  Vane  stood  at  the 
grave  of  the  leader  whose  place  he  must  try  to  fill, 
a  demand  was  made  upon  his  subtlety  even  greater 
than  that  during  the  negotiation  with  the  Scots. 
The  King,  inveterate  intriguer  that  he  was,  already 
in  the  fall 2  had  made  overtures  to  the  Independents, 

1  Whitacre's  Diary,  under  date.        a  Gardiner,  Civil  War,  i.  310, 

etc. 


I643-]     THE   COMMITTEE   OF  BOTH  KINGDOMS.       193 

who  grew  more  prominent  every  day,  promising  a 
broad  toleration  in  case  peace  could  be  secured. 
How  hollow  was  his  purpose  came  presently  to  light 
on  the  discovery  of  certain  plottings  of  his  with  the 
Catholics,  carried  on  at  the  same  time.  Vane  was 
set  to  trap  the  fox,  and  showed  himself  conspicu- 
ously skilful. 

As  regards  the  King's  overtures  to  the  Indepen- 
dents, a  certain  Lord  Lovelace,  acting  in  his  name l 
"by  a  secret  messenger  and  letter  to  Sir  Henry 
Vane,  did  to  this  effect  impart :  that  the  King  hav- 
ing taken  notice  of  him  and  others  of  his  judgment, 
and  conceiving  them  to  be  real  and  hearty  in  their 
intentions,  did  promise  unto  them  liberty  of  con- 
science, and  that  all  those  laws  that  have  been  made 
by  Parliament,  and  all  others,  the  rights  and  liber- 
ties of  the  people,  should  inviolably  be  preserved : 
of  which  he  would  give  what  assurance  could  be  de- 
vised." Through  Lovelace,  Charles  assured  Vane 
that  he  knew  his  true  inclination  to  the  public  good, 
that  he  knew  he  belonged  to  a  strong  party  in  the 
Commons  of  which  he  was  the  chief,  and  desired 
him  to  send  a  trusty  and  able  messenger  to  negotiate 
for  him.  Vane  proceeded  circumspectly.  He  ad- 
vised with  the  Speaker  and  a  few  of  the  wariest 
heads  of  the  Commons  as  to  the  best  course  to  be 
pursued.  An  answer  of  seeming  compliance  was  at 
length  sent  back,  and  an  agent  appointed.  It  was 
soon  discovered  that  "  the  utmost  of  the  design  was 
only  to  entrap  Sir  Henry  Vane,  by  first  inviting  him 
to  the  conference,  and  then  discovering  it  underhand, 

1  Anti-Aulicus,  Feb.  1644,  Thomasson  Tracts,  xxxi. 


194  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY   VANE.  [1643. 

and  so  render  him  obnoxious  to  the  mistake  and  ill 
opinion  of  good  men."1 

It  is  good  evidence  of  the  consequence  attached 
to  Vane,  now  that  Pym  and  Hampden  were  gone,  that 
Charles  was  popularly  believed  to  be  intriguing  in 
this  way  to  break  down  his  reputation.2  There  is 
still  more  to  this  transaction.  The  relations  between 
the  two  Houses  at  this  time  were,  in  modern  phrase, 
very  strained.  Lord  Holland,  who  had  forsaken  his 
place  at  Westminster  and  joined  the  King,  thinking 
better  of  his  defection,  had  returned  in  the  winter 
of  1643  to  the  House  of  Lords,  assuming  his  seat 
quietly  without  making  any  explanation  of  his  con- 
duct. The  Commons,  enraged,  resolved  to  impeach 
him  of  high-treason.  The  Lords  sought  to  shield 
him,  and  by  way  of  retaliation,  news  having  leaked 
out  of  the  Independent  transactions  with  Lovelace, 
it  was  "  proponed "  to  charge  Vane  and  his  fellows 
with  high-treason  for  holding  intelligence  with  Ox- 
ford. Vane,  however,  "  prevented "  the  Lords  by 
making  at  last  a  full  and  public  report  to  the  Com- 
mons, all  motive  for  concealment  being  now  removed, 
whereat  great  pleasure  was  expressed,  and  Vane  was 
thanked  "  for  his  wise  and  faithful  carriage." 3 

While  Vane  delved  thus  below  the  mine  by  which 
he  was  himself  to  have  been  hoist,  he  was  busy  un- 
earthing still  other  petards  which  sly  Charles  was 
trying  to  explode  against  the  gates  of  his  enemies. 
While  the  King  was  reaching  out  for  the  Indepen- 

1  IVhitacre's    Diary,    Jan.    17,        8  Anti-Aulicus,  Feb.  1643.     Old 
1644.  Style. 

2  Baillie,  426,  etc. 


I644-]     THE  COMMITTEE   OF  BOTH  KINGDOMS.        195 

dents,  his  intrigue  with  the  Catholics  was  as  follows ; 
Reade,  a  Catholic  who  had  been  confined  in  the 
Tower,  escaping  to  Oxford,  advised  the  King  to  open 
negotiations  with  a  certain  Sir  Basil  Brooke,  of  the 
same  faith,  about  winning  over  London  to  the  King. 
Brooke,  being  addressed,  agreed  to  do  his  utmost,  be- 
lieving that  there  was  a  wide-spread  dissatisfaction, 
because  the  train-bands  were  absent  so  much  and  so 
far,  and  because  trade  was  so  depressed.  His  main 
instruments  were  Violett,  a  Royalist  goldsmith,  who 
had  been  imprisoned  for  refusing  to  pay  his  tax,  and 
Reyley,  an  official  of  the  city  known  as  the  "scout- 
master," perhaps  a  detective  officer.  The  King's 
letter,  which  Parliament  got  hold  of,  adapted  for  Cath- 
olics, was  vastly  different  in  tone  from  his  communi- 
cations to  the  liberty-loving  Independents.  Baillie l 
writes  to  Scotland  in  his  usual  vivid  way  about  this 
matter,  and  in  the  newspapers  of  the  Thomasson 
Tracts  interesting  lights  are  thrown  on  the  plot,  and 
the  rejoicings  which  followed  its  discovery. 

When  the  plot  was  "  on  the  point  of  breaking  out 
in  execution,  some  favor  of  it  coming  to  the  nose  of 
young  Sir  Henry  Vane,  he  calls  the  Solicitor  [St. 
John]  and  my  Lord  Wharton  to  meet  in  Goldsmith's 
hall  on  Thursday  at  eight  o'clock  at  night ;  sends  in 
a  friendly  way  for  Reyley,  no  ways  suspecting  him  (a 
deep  rascal,  a  leader  in  the  city  council,  esteemed 
very  religious) ;  yet  finding  him  confused  in  his  an- 
swers and  more  reserved  than  they  expected,  after 
long,  conference  to  little  purpose,  the  Solicitor,  walk- 
ing up  and  down  the  room,  pensive  and  musing,  kicks 
1  Letters,  Feb.  18,  1644. 


196  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1644. 

with  his  foot  a  bit  of  paper  on  the  floor,  as  a  foul 
clout.  In  his  turns  he  kicks  it  now  and  then  till  it 
came  to  the  side  of  the  fire  on  the  hearth ;  and  when 
it  was  ready  to  burn,  the  sweet  man,  Pym's  successor 
[Vane]  began  to  think  possibly  there  was  somewhat 
in  that  paper  might  do  good :  taking  it  up,  he  finds 
it,  reads  the  letter  which  had  fallen  from  Reyley. 
Upon  this  they  made  Reyley  void  his  pockets  all 
wherein  they  found  so  much  as  led  them  to  Sir  Basil 
Brooke  and  Violett,  who  were  presently  sent  for,  and 
afterwards  their  papers  also ;  whereupon  all  that 
night  was  spent,  and  before  the  autographs  of  the 
King's  letters  were  found,  all  was  made  plain." 

The  danger  seems  to  have  been  great  and  the  dis- 
covery excited  much  interest.  At  Guildhall  there 
was  "  a  large  demonstration  of  all  to  a  huge  number 

O  O 

of  citizens,  to  their  manifold  exclamations  and  cries 
for  justice."  Of  those  who  addressed  the  crowd 
Vane  was  the  principal.  He  made  first  a  short  pro- 
logue,1 u  that  you  may  see  the  design  in  its  lively 
colors,  and  that  as  you  have  had  it  summarily  pre- 
sented to  you,  you  may  now  hear  the  parties  them- 
selves speak."  The  details  of  the  discovery  of  the 
plot  were  then  given,  ending  with  the  proclamation 
of  the  King,  which  at  the  proper  time  was  to  have 
been  spread  abroad.  "  This,"  continued  Vane,  "  suf- 
ficiently discovers  to  you  how  palpable  and  gross 
they  are,  that  all  this  fair  and  foul  weather  is  made 
up  only  to  shift  hands  to  work  the  same  design  of 
sowing  division  and  dissension  among  us,  that  so 
their  party  might  prevail."  Referring  to  the  accusa- 

1  Thomasson  Tracts,  xxix. 


1644-]     THE   COMMITTEE   OF  BOTH  KINGDOMS.        197 

tion  of  the  King,  that  in  the  Scots  a  foreign  foe  had 
been  admitted  into  England,  he  called  the  attention 
of  his  hearers  to  the  fact  that  the  King  himself  was 
at  the  same  moment  introducing  the  Irish,  "  whereby 
they  have  let  loose  worse  than  a  foreign  nation,  a 
nation  imbrued  in  the  Protestant  blood,  and  settled 
upon  principles  for  the  utter  destruction  of  the  reli- 
gion and  laws  of  this  kingdom.  .  .  .  For  the  coming 
of  the  Scots,  I  believe  you  all  know  very  well  that 
the  Parliament  did  think  fit,  finding  how  near  the  in- 
terest of  those  two  nations  was  conjoined  in  one, 
finding  the  constant  love  and  amity  of  that  kingdom 
to  this,  and  how  in  its  greatest  extremity  it  was  very 
punctual  to  it  ...  they  thought  fit  to  enter  into  a 
treaty  with  them  in  solemn  covenant,  which  treaty  is 
now  solemnly  ratified  by  both  kingdoms:  yet  this 
must  be  called  an  invasion. 

"  Here  is  a  second  paper  in  the  form  likewise  of  a 
proclamation,  whereby  you  shall  see  the  unevenness 
and  unsteadiness  of  his  Majesty's  councils,  at  least  in 
appearance ;  for  though  they  be  steady  and  united 
in  that  which  is  to  bring  destruction  and  ruin  upon 
the  Parliament  and  Kingdom,  yet  you  may  see  them 
halt  in  their  expressions.  Before,  you  were  called  a 
famous  city,  you  had  deserved  so  well,  and  had  all 
encouragements  offered  you :  here,  on  the  contrary, 
you  shall  see  what  language  is  given  you,  and  be- 
cause the  welfare  of  this  city  consists  much  in  the 
residence  of  this  Parliament,  and  courts  of  justice 
that. are  here,  and  of  such  persons  of  quality  as  are 
necessarily  attendant  thereupon,  it  is  not  now  only 
thought  fit  to  call  away  the  Parliament  from  you,  but 


198  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY   VANE.  [1644. 

the  courts  of  justice,  that  so  you  might  be  left  a  mis- 
erable confused  city,  notwithstanding  all  the  fair 
words  and  promises  that  have  been  given  you." 

It  was  borne  home  upon  all  minds  by  Vane's 
speech,  that  the  King  was  ready  to  make  himself  all 
things  to  all  men  and  had  no  intention  of  fulfilling 
his  promises.  After  a  solemn  fashion  city  and  Parlia- 
ment rejoiced  that  the  royal  machinations  had  not 
sundered  them.  January  iS,1  Lords  and  Commons 
heard  at  Christ  Church  a  sermon  by  Marshall,  re- 
puted the  best  preacher  in  the  Kingdom,  after  which, 
by  invitation  of  the  city,  they  proceeded  to  Mer- 
chant Tailors'  Hall,  "  where  they  were  moderately 
feasted,  exceedings  being  declined  in  these  sad  and 
bleeding  times."  To  the  banquet  the  Common 
Council  marched  first ;  then  the  Aldermen,  then  the 
Parliament,  whom  the  train-bands,  honestly  exultant 
over  their  prowess  at  Gloucester  and  Newbury, 
guarded  on  each  side.2  "  Against  they  came  through 
Cheapside,  there  was  set  up  a  sleight  scaffold  of  fir- 
poles,  on  which  was  fixed  the  statues  and  pictures 
of  the  fancied  Roman  gods,  idolatrous  superstitions, 
crucifixes,  crosses,  whips,  &c.  And  as  the  Lords 
and  Commons  were  passed  by,  they  were  all  set  on 
fire  and  burnt  to  ashes  :  the  smoke,  like  incense,  as- 
cended to  heaven,  as  that  which  was  acceptable  to 
God." 

It  is  scarcely  possible  to  exaggerate  Vane's  ser- 
vices rendered  at  this  period  to  the  cause  of  Parlia- 

1  Parliament  Scout,  f r.  Jan.  1 2         2  The  Scotish  Dove,  Thomasson 
to  Jan.  19,  1643.     O-  S.  Tracts,  xxxi. 


I644-]     THE  COMMITTEE   OF  BOTH  KINGDOMS.        199 

ment,  services  in  which  constantly  appears  a  certain 
extraordinary  astuteness  which  unfriendly  authorities 
call  cunning.  The  quality  appears  in  a  marked  way 
in  the  unmasking  of  the  duplicity  of  Charles,  just 
narrated.  It  was  now  to  receive  still  further  illus- 
tration in  the  establishment  of  the  Committee  of  the 
Two  Kingdoms,  a  piece  of  work  which  increased 
marvellously  the  efficiency  of  the  Parliament,  and 
which  was  due  mainly  to  the  agency  of  Vane,  sec- 
onded ably,  as  he  always  was  in  these  days,  by  St. 
John.  Curiously  enough,  the  Committee  of  Both 
Kingdoms,  a  provision  destined  to  affect  the  course 
of  affairs  very  disastrously  for  the  Royalists,  was  in 
its  origin  the  outgrowth  of  a  Royalist  intrigue.  The 
Earl  of  Hamilton,  the  agent  of  Charles  at  Edinburgh 
at  the  time  of  the  negotiation  of  the  Solemn  League 
and  Covenant,  unable  to  thwart  that  measure,  sought 
to  gain  his  point  indirectly.  He  brought  it  about 
that  for  the  conduct  of  the  war  a  small  controlling 
committee  should  be  insisted  on,  to  be  selected  from 
the  Parliaments  of  both  countries,  believing  that 
English  pride  would  never  consent  to  this.  Vane, 
however,  acquiesced  at  once,  feeling  sure,  no  doubt, 
that  his  party  could  manage  the  Scotch  members  of 
such  a  committee,  a  confidence  which  the  event  justi- 
fied. This  provision  of  the  treaty  with  the  Scots  was 
obnoxious  to  the  Peers  and  also  to  the  peace  party  in 
the  Commons,  then  very  strong.  The  negotiators, 
the  war  party,  however,  were  under  obligation  to 
carry  it  out ;  they  were  anxious  to  do  so,  moreover, 
because  they  felt  more  and  more,  as  time  proceeded, 
the  need  of  a  concentration  of  power  in  a  few  hands, 


200  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1644. 

and  believed  that  such  a  committee  might  be  made 
an  efficient  executive  head.  While  matters  were  still 
nebulous  as  regarded  the  war,  during  the  uncertain 
days  of  the  summer  of  1642,  a  Committee  of  Safety 
had  been  constituted,  consisting  of  fifteen  members 
divided  between  the  Houses.  This,  however,  since  it 
was  a  mere  channel  of  communication  between  Par- 
liament and  the  outside  world,  was  found  to  have 
quite  insufficient  powers  for  the  crisis.  Parliament 
had  now  four  armies  in  the  field,  those  of  Fairfax, 
Waller,  Essex,  and  Manchester,  not  to  speak  of  the 
Scots,  who  were  in  their  pay.  Among  the  Generals 
and  their  partisans  there  was  bickering,  and  in  the 
armies  there  was  insubordination,  —  disorder  sure  to 
bring  to  pass  fatal  results  in  presence  of  a  powerful 
enemy,  and  only  to  be  remedied  by  establishing 
some  strong  central  authority.  Not  until  toward  the 
end  of  January,  through  Parliamentary  manoeuvring 
in  which  Vane  and  St.  John  bore  a  leading  part, 
chiefs  as  they  were  of  the  war  party,  was  the  Com- 
mittee of  Two  Kingdoms  established,  to  consist  of 
seven  Peers  and  fourteen  Commoners,  who  were  to 
be  joined  with  the  commissioners  from  Scotland. 
As  we  have  here  a  good  specimen  of  Vane's  dexter- 
ous management,  it  is  worth  while  to  look  closely  at 
details.  Knowing  that  the  chief  difficulty  would  be 
with  the  Peers,  Vane  and  St.  John  persuaded  their 
particular  friend,  Lord  Say,  to  manage  matters  in  the 
Upper  House.  The  Lords  were  in  some  way  caught 
napping,  and  passed  an  ordinance  proposed  by  him, 
establishing  the  Committee,  empowering  it  "  to  or- 
der and  direct  whatsoever  doth  or  may  concern  the 


1644.]     THE   COMMITTEE   OF  BOTH  KINGDOMS.       2OI 

managing  of  the  war  .  .  .  and  whatsoever  may  con- 
cern the  peace  of  his  Majesty's  dominions."  In  the 
Commons  there  was  violent  opposition  from  the 
peace  party,  partly  because  the  measure  came  from 
the  other  House,  of  which  the  Commons  felt  great 
jealousy,  but  more  because  an  executive  government 
seemed  about  to  be  established,  which  might  in  all 
things  set  aside  Parliament  itself.  Vane  and  St. 
John  met  the  objections  by  opposing  the  Lords'  ordi- 
nance and  introducing  a  new  ordinance  proceeding 
from  the  Commons,  establishing  a  Committee  which 
should  have  only  military  authority,  while  as  regards 
peace  matters  Parliament  was  to  retain  the  supervis- 
ion. The  Commons,  propitiated  by  what  seemed  a 
large  concession,  passed  this.  When  the  new  ordi- 
nance reached  the  Peers,  it  found  them  in  a  more 
wakeful  state  than  before.  It  was  really  far  less 
sweeping  than  their  own  ordinance,  but  now  the 
Peers  violently  opposed,  feeling  that  it  would  be  a 
heavy  blow  to  them.  It  was,  nevertheless,  at  length 
passed  on  February  16,  but  the  duration  of  the  com- 
mittee was  restricted  to  three  months.1 

Now  to  a  small,  independent,  responsible  body 
authority  was  given  in  war  matters,  a  measure  sure, 
if  the  Committee  were  well  chosen,  to  increase  im- 
mensely the  efficiency  of  the  resistance  to  the  King. 
When  the  time  of  the  Committee  expired,  in  May, 
there  was  a  most  critical  moment  when  there  was  no 
central  authority  but  a  discordant  Parliament  to 
direct  an  active  campaign.  Vane's  tact  which  had 
got  in  the  entering  wedge  now  cleaved  the  difficulty. 

1  Civil  War,  i.  360. 


202  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1644. 

The  original  ordinance,  which  had  come  down  to  the 
Commons  from  the  Lords,  the  "omnipotent  ordi- 
nance," as  it  was  called,  because  it  gave  the  Commit- 
tee authority  in  peace  as  well  as  war,  —  passed  as  we 
have  seen  when  the  Lords  were  napping,  had  never 
been  rejected  by  the  Lower  House,  but  simply  laid 
aside.  It  was  now  taken  up  and  passed  by  the  Com- 
mons, its  opponents  having  lost  power.  It  had  already 
passed  the  Lords,  and  did  not  require  to  be  referred 
to  them  again.  "  The  baffled  Lords,  circumvented  by 
a  trick,  had  to  look  on  without  the  possibility  of  giv- 
ing effect  to  their  dissatisfaction,  when  the  old  Com- 
mittee met  on  May  24,  to  continue  its  work."  *  It 
was  the  old  Committee,  but  through  the  shrewd 
manoeuvring,  it  possessed  powers  vastly  extended. 

Gardiner  regards  the  formation  of  the  Committee 
of  Both  Kingdoms  as  having  a  still  farther  and 
wider  interest.  Here  we  may  see,  he  thinks,  the 
first  germ  of  a  political  union  between  England  and 
Scotland,  and  also  the  first  germ  of  the  modern  cab- 
inet system.2 

The  Committee  of  Both  Kingdoms  which  met  at 
Derby  House,  near  St.  Stephen's,  brought  thus  into 
existence,  as  Baillie  says,  "  over  the  belly  of  its  oppos- 
ers,"  consisted  of  twenty-one  members  from  England, 
seven  Peers  and  fourteen  Commoners,  —  from  Scot- 
land of  the  four  or  five  commissioners.  Parliament 
put  upon  it  its  ablest  men,  and  among  them  were 
both  the  Vanes.  The  records  of  the  Committee,  in 
those  days  most  jealously  guarded,  are  kept  in  the 

1  Gardiner,  Civil  War,  \.  404.     Whit acrfs  Diary. 
8  Civil  War,  \.  360. 


1 644.]      THE  COMMITTEE  OF  BOTH  KINGDOMS.       203 

Public  Record  Office  in  two  forms,  known  in  the 
language  of  the  Office  as  the  "  draft "  and  the  "  fair." 
The  "  draft "  record  is  the  jotting  down,  made  by 
Gualter  Frost,  the  secretary,  while  the  business  was 
in  process.  The  "  fair  "  record  is  the  carefully  made 
copy  of  the  jottings,  drawn  up  afterward  at  leisure, 
for  easy  consultation.  Both  "  draft  "  and  "fair"  have 
passed  through  the  hands  of  the  present  writer.  A 
rigid  oath  of  secrecy,  imposed  upon  all  members,  kept 
back  proceedings  from  the  world.  As  one  to-day 
pores  over  the  pages  (the  penalty  would  once  have 
been  a  dungeon  in  the  Tower),  he  feels  admitted  be- 
hind the  veil,  and  seems  almost  to  touch  the  hands 
and  hear  the  voices  of  the  great  Parliamentary  chiefs. 
On  every  page,  though  the  record  is  meagre,  giving 
only  the  orders  of  the  Committee  with  little  report 
of  the  discussions  which  must  have  attended  their 
adoption,  the  prominence  of  Vane  is  plain.  He  is 
frequently  sent  to  Parliament  with  communications, 
a  fact  implying  that  he  originates  the  measures  to  be 
submitted,  or  at  any  rate  is  especially  capable  in  rec- 
ommending and  defending  them.  In  financial  man- 
agement he  is  in  the  foreground,  supei intending  the 
vast  sequestrations  of  the  property  of  "  Malignants," 
stirring  up  the  city  to  raise  money  and  send  out 
succor,  providing  for  the  proper  disbursement  of  the 
great  subsidy  to  the  Scots.  He  cares  for  the  sending 
of  powder  and  match  to  Hull  for  the  northern  army, 
bargains  with  men  in  Kent  about  draught-horses 
for  Sir  William  Waller,  and  has  a  careful  eye  toward 
Ireland,  in  which  quarter  the  machinations  of  the 
King  just  now  are  especially  dreaded.  In  most  of 


2O4  YOUNG   SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1644. 

the  action  other  names  are  associated  with  his,  often 
that  of  his  father,  but  the  best  evidence  exists  that 
his  audacity,  deftness,  and  zeal  are  at  the  heart  of  all 
proceedings. 

While  the  Committee  of  Both  Kingdoms  had  been 
getting  under  way,  the  active  campaign  for  the  new 
year  had  been  preparing.  Besides  the  intrigues  with 
the  Independents  and  the  London  Catholics,  the 
King  had  also  been  plotting  with  Papists  in  Ireland. 
All  came  to  naught ;  as  did  also  an  open  negotiation 
between  the  hostile  parties,  undertaken  by  Harcourt, 
the  French  ambassador.  The  sword  must  again  be 
resorted  to,  and  Charles  now  broke  more  definitely 
than  before  with  his  enemies,  by  denying  to  the  Par- 
liament at  Westminster  all  legal  status.  There 
remained  of  the  original  Long  Parliament  but 
twenty-two  Lords  and  three  hundred  and  eighty 
Commoners;  of  these  one  hundred  were  absent  in 
various  services.  With  the  King  at  Oxford  were 
forty-five  Lords  and  one  hundred  and  eighteen  Com- 
moners, and  with  these  the  King  undertook  in  Jan- 
uary to  set  up  a  rival  Parliament.  Moreover,  at 
St.  Stephen's  the  want  of  harmony  was  great  be- 
tween the  two  Houses  and  also  between  the  parties 
who,  within  the  Houses,  favored  respectively  peace 
and  war.  The  campaign  opened  favorably  for  the 
Parliament.  Sir  Thomas  Fairfax  cut  to  pieces  at 
Nantwich  a  force  from  Ireland  which  had  come  to 
succor  the  King,  and  Waller  defeated  Hopton  in  the 
South.  In  the  winter,  the  punctual  Scots,  marching 
knee-deep  in  snow,  to  the  number  of  20,000,  had 
crossed  the  border  under  the  veteran  Leven,  and 


I644-]      THE   COMMITTEE   OF  BOTH  KINGDOMS.      205 

touched  hands  with  Fairfax.  As  soon  as  the  Com- 
mittee of  Both  Kingdoms  could  get  to  work,  this 
improvement  in  affairs  was  wonderfully  promoted. 
Heretofore  the  King  had  known,  through  his  friends, 
whatever  was  projected  in  the  Parliamentary  camp  : 
now  all  was  secret.  Suddenly  Manchester,  Fairfax, 
and  Leven  united,  were  besieging  his  General,  the 
Earl  of  Newcastle,  whom  they  had  shut  up  in  York, 
and  news  came  also  that  Essex  and  Waller  were 
marching  upon  Oxford.  Against  this  threatening 
front  of  the  Parliament,  Charles,  relying  much,  prob- 
ably, upon  a  shrewd  Scotch  soldier  in  his  suite,  the 
Earl  of  Brentford,  opposed  himself  vigorously  and 
skilfully.  He  ordered  at  once  to  the  succor  of 
York  Rupert,  who  spurred  through  Lancashire  dur- 
ing June,  taking  town  after  town,  rolling  up  at  the 
same  time  a  most  formidable  force.  Charles  him- 
self, manoeuvring  dexterously,  defeated  Waller  at  Cro- 
predy  Bridge,  close  by  Oxford,  then  pursued  Essex, 
who  was  making  his  way  into  the  West. 

On  the  3d  of  June1  Vane  was  sent  to  the  army  in 
the  North  by  the  Committee.  His  ostensible  errand 
was  to  urge  the  sending  of  Manchester  and  Fairfax 
to  oppose  Rupert  in  Lancashire.  He  was  thus  ac- 
credited to  the  three  nobles  in  command : 2  — 

"  The  Committee  of  Both  Kingdoms  upon  anxious 
consideration  had  of  ye  affairs  in  ye  northern  parts, 
and  of  what  great  concernment  ye  success  of  them 
will  be  to  ye  three  kingdoms  and  because  ye  mutual 
consults  between  ye  com1?.6  and  ye  Lords  cannot  so 

1  Order  Book  of  Comm.  of  Both        2  From   "  Letters  Sent."  State 
Kingd.  Papers,  Domestic,  E.  18. 


206  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1644. 

fully  and  speedily  be  recommended  each  to  other 
by  letters  as  by  one  of  themselves  acquainted  with 
their  debates  and  conclusions  —  they  have  therefore 
intrusted  Sir  Henry  Vane  ye  yonger  to  repayre  to 
yr  Ldships  to  whom  they  desire  that  your  Ldships 
would  give  full  credence  in  such  matters  as  he  shall 
impart  to  you  from  this  Committee." 

The  letter  was  signed  by  the  Earl  of  Northumber- 
land and  Lord  Maitland,  representing  respectively 
the  English  and  Scotch  commissioners,  and  a  copy 
sent  to  each  of  the  three  Generals. 

Vane  had  however  a  secret  mission,  none  other 
than  to  arrange,  if  possible,  for  the  deposition  of 
Charles,  of  whose  faithlessness  he  and  his  friends  had 
now  become  thoroughly  convinced,  and  the  raising 
to  the  throne  of  his  nephew  Charles  Louis,  the  young 
Prince  Palatine,  the  elder  brother  of  Rupert,  pre- 
cisely in  the  way  in  which,  fifty  years  afterward, 
William  of  Orange  was  substituted  for  James  II.1 
The  Scotch  Commissioners  had  opposed  the  scheme 
when  broached  to  them,  but  Vane  thought  the  sol- 
diers would  receive  the  idea  more  favorably  than  the 
politicians.  As  regards  both  his  open  and  secret 
mission,  Vane  was  doomed  to  disappointment.  It 
proved  to  be  inexpedient  to  abandon  the  siege  of 
York,  even  to  block  the  path  of  Rupert;  and  as  to 
the  deposition  of  Charles,  not  one  of  the  three  Gen- 
erals, Manchester,  Lord  Fairfax,  or  Leven,  would 
listen  to  the  idea.  Leven  and  the  Scots,  in  partic- 

1  Gardiner,    Civil  War,  i.  431,     of  such  a  supersession.     See  Life 
etc.    Forster  thinks  that  Pym  and     of  Cromwell,  415. 
Hampden  had  entertained  the  idea 


1 644.]      THE   COMMITTEE  OF  BOTH  KINGDOMS,      207 

ular,  were  violent  in  their  antagonism.  It  is  highly 
probable,  however,  that  Cromwell,  who  had  now  risen 
to  be  second  in  command  in  the  army  of  Man- 
chester, was  won,1  and  that  here  began  a  fierce 
quarrel  between  him  on  the  one  side,  and  Man- 
chester and  the  Scots  on  the  other,  which  ended 
at  last  in  the  disappearance  of  Manchester  from  the 
stage,  and,  in  the  case  of  the  Scots,  in  torrents  of 
bloodshed. 

While  Vane  was  absent,  the  Committee  at  Derby 
House,  feeling  that  they  could  ill  spare  his  brave  and 
shrewd  head,  ordered  "  that  a  Itr.  be  written  to  Sir 
Henry  Vane  Jr.,  to  let  him  know  that  the  Comtee  ex- 
pects that  he  will  returne  by  the  tyme  limited  in  his 
instructions." 2  On  June  30,  the  name  of  Vane  oc- 
curs as  again  present,  and  on  the  day  following  he  is 
thanked  "  for  his  great  paynes  and  faithfull  discharge 
of  his  employment  to  the  North."  He  was  sent  at 
once  to  Parliament  to  report  news  of  the  ."  leaguer 
before  York,"  and  received  here,  too,  public  thanks.3 
During  his  absence  he  had  not  left  the  Committee 
uninformed  of  his  adventures.  The  following  ex- 
tracts from  letters  are  copied  from  the  letter-book 
of  the  Committee  :  — 

"  My  Lords  &  Gent :  Notwithstanding  all  ye  dilli- 
gence  I  endeavoured  to  make  in  obeydience  to  yoT 
Comand  for  my  speedy  repaire  hither:  I  found  ye 
weather  soe  bad,  the  wayes  soe  deepe,  and  the  horses 

1  The  evidence  for  this  rests         3  Order  Book, 
upon  reports  of  the  French  and        8  Journals  of  the  House  of  Corn- 
Venetian  ambassadors,  ably  sum-     mons. 
marized   by  Gardiner.     Ibid.  pp. 
432,  433- 


208  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1644. 

soe  difficult  to  be  speedily  gott,  that  it  was  ye  Lord's 
day  at  night  before  I  could  reach  ye  Leaguer.  Since 
wch  time  I  delivered  yor  Lop's  Itrs.  and  communi- 
cated yor  desire  cone,  the  releife  of  Lancashire  accord- 
ing to  my  instructions  [so  far  literal].  We  herein 
had  yesterday  a  very  long  and  serious  debate  before 
the  three  Generals  and  chief  officers  of  the  army  and 
likewise  at  ye  Committee  of  Both  Kingdoms,1  and  no 
certain  resolution  as  yet  able  to  be  taken  concerning 
the  same.  In  regard  ye  siege  before  York  hath  no 
foot  to  spare,  and  ye  citty  is  in  so  hopeful  a  condition 
of  being  suddenly  gained  either  by  force  or  treaty,  it 
is  nowise  advisable  to  give  any  interruption  there- 
unto for  the  present.  .  .  .  According  as  I  find  mat- 
ters here  it  does  appear  to  me  most  clearly,  that  if 
the  Earl  of  Manchester  had  not  brought  up  his  foot 
to  this  siege,  the  business  would  have  been  very  dila- 
tory. Whereas  upon  the  coming  up  of  his  foot  the 
siege  is  now  made  very  streight  about  ye  city,  his 
Lordship's  forces  lying  on  the  north  side  where  they 
have  come  very  near  ye  walls  and  are  busy  in  a  mine, 
of  which  we  expect  a  speedy  accompt,  if  by  a  treaty 
we  be  not  prevented.  The  Scots  forces  under  Sir 
James  Lumsdale's  command,  united  with  those  of 
the  Lord  Fairfax,  possess  the  suburbs  at  the  east 
part,  and  are  within  pistol  shot  or  less  of  Wamgate. 
The  Scots  hold  that  fort  on  the  south  side  which 
very  gallantly  they  took  in  on  Thursday  last,  and  are 
very  busy  in  their  approaches  on  that  side.  .  .  . 


1  A  committee  with  the  army  which  had  the  same  name  as  that  at 
Derby  House. 


1 644-]       THE  COMMITTEE   OF  BOTH  KINGDOMS.      209 

June  1 6. 

"  Since  my  writing  thus  much,  Manchester  played 
his  mine  with  very  good  success,  made  a  fair  breach 
and  entered  with  his  men."  Leven  and  Fairfax,  how- 
ever, are  ignorant  of  it,  so  Manchester  is  beaten  off, 
but  with  no  great  loss.  "  I  would  gladly  see  York 
taken  in  before  my  return,"  which  now  draws  very 
near.  He  is  pressed  to  stay  because  the  Committee 
there  are  not  a  quorum  without  him.1 

From  the  Thomasson  Tracts  some  specimens  of 
the  newspaper  comments,  Royalist  and  Parliamen- 
tarian, on  Vane's  mission  are  given. 

"  But  young  Sir  Henry  Vane  is  now  come  back 
to  London,  and  will  charme  that  mutinous  body  by 
declaring  all  its  priviledges,  as  fast  as  he  and  his 
father  can  remember  them.  He  stept  down  to  Yorke 
to  take  an  account  of  the  Scots,  whom  he  invited 
into  England ;  and  findes  them  very  tender  of  laying 
down  their  lives,  Fairfax  and  Manchester  having 
been  still  tasked  to  all  hard  work.  Yet  the  Scots 
were  the  first  and  the  last  which  were  paid,  &c.  .  .  . 
Notwithstanding  all  this  Sir  Henry  cheered  the 
houses  that  all  was  well  with  the  Northerne  armies 
(Manchester  meanwhile  saying  if  his  men  did  not  re- 
ceive their  arrears  they  would  all  forsake  him)  that  the 
Generalls  intended  at  his  coming  away  to  send  25,000 
to  oppose  Prince  Rupert's  coming ;  and  yet  leave 
sufficient  force  to  keep  them  up  in  Yorke ;  But,  said 
he,  you  must  have  a  care  of  the  associated  counties, 
for  the  Earl  of  Manchester  cannot  return  till  August 
be  past  (How  now  Sir  Henry?  not  till  August  be 

1  S.  P.,  Dom.,  Interregnum,  E.  16. 


210  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1644. 

passed  ?  Why  what 's  become  of  his  Lordship  ?  Are 
he  and  his  father  both  together  ?)  But  Sir  Henry 
had  no  sooner  ended  but  in  came  letters  from  Ar- 
myne,  &c." ]  Mercurius  Britannicus  rallies  Aulicus. 

"  Yes,  why  did  you  not  intercept  him  [Vane]  by 
the  way ;  because  you  have  not  so  much  as  an  acre 
of  ground  from  London  to  Yorke  to  ride  upon  ;  I 
think  your  inheritance  will  shortly  be  in  hospitals 
and  alms-houses.  .  .  . 

"  He  tells  us  all  the  speech  of  our  gallant  and  wor- 
thy senator  Sir  H.  Vane."  2 

July  4,  we  find  Vane  reporting  certain  news  just 
received  from  the  army  where  he  had  lately  been  a 
guest.  "  Manchester,  Leven,  Fairfax  had  raised  the 
siege  before  York,  carried  all  their  men,  horse,  artil- 
lery, and  baggage  over  the  river  with  intent  to  meet 
Prince  Rupert  said  to  be  in  those  parts  with  a  puis- 
sant army  of  near  30,000  men." 3 

Young  Sir  Henry  Vane  was  not  a  soldier,  but  who 
that  has  read  these  pages  can  doubt  that  in  the  magni- 
ficent victory  which  this  allied  army  of  the  North  was 
about  to  win  for  Parliament,  as  much  credit  should 
be  assigned  to  him  as  to  any  soldier  who  fought 
upon  the  field  !  To  him  it  was  due  more  than  to  any 
other  one  man  that  Parliament,  under  the  lead  of  the 
peace  favorers,  had  not  supinely  come  to  an  agree- 
ment with  the  King,  leaving  the  fearful  grievances  all 
unredressed.  To  him,  in  a  still  greater  degree,  it  was 
due,  that  twenty  thousand  hardy  soldiers  had  come 

1  Mercurius  Aulicus,  July  4,  the  Parliament  had  for  rejoicing 
1644.  will  presently  appear. 

a  July   15,   1644.    What  reason        8  Whitacre's  Diary. 


1 644.]     THE  COMMITTEE  OF  BOTH  KINGDOMS.        211 

to  the  support  of  the  failing  cause.  Scarcely  less  was 
it  due  to  him,  that  a  head  had  at  last  been  given  to 
what  had  been  headless  —  that  stern  discipline  had 
reduced  to  harmony  insubordination  and  divided 
counsels  —  that  a  central  authority  had  begun  to 
control  the  sword  wielded  so  often  without  result, 
however  bravely.  Who  will  say  that  Marston  Moor 
does  not  belong  to  the  story  of  Vane  ? l 

1  Among  a  number  of  authori-  cial  obl^ation  to  Markham,  Life 

ties,   contemporary  as  well  as  of  of  Fairfax,  to  Merivale,  Macmil- 

later  date,  consulted  for  the  Battle  fan's  Mag.,  May,  1862,  and  to  San- 

of  Marston  Moor,  I  am  under  spe-  ford's  Great  Rebellion. 


CHAPTER  X. 

MARSTON    MOOR. 

AGAINST  the  all  Fes  before  York  the  Earl  of  New- 
castle made  a  bold  defence  ;  for  Rupert  was  advanc- 
ing impetuously  through  Lancashire  in  the  south- 
west, his  power  growing  as  a  conflagration  grows 
with  its  progress :  toward  the  end  of  June  he  was 
with  his  horsemen  close  at  hand.  The  Prince 
showed  now  more  than  ordinary  skill.  Leven,  on 
the  other  hand,  who  was  greatly  deferred  to,  grizzled 
veteran  that  he  was,  was  growing  old  and  losing  fire. 
The  siege  of  York  was  raised,  and  the  allies  began  to 
retreat  toward  the  northwest :  Rupert  was  instantly 
upon  their  track,  his  own  confident  host  swelled  now 
by  the  defenders  of  the  town.  Eight  miles  out,  the 
Cavaliers  pressed  fiercely  the  Parliamentary  rear,  and 
at  Long  Marston  Moor,  on  the  2d  of  July,  Leven, 
much  against  his  will,  was  forced  to  turn  and  face 
them. 

Few  English  towns  have  changed  less  than  York 
in  the  two  hundred  and  forty  years  since  that  time. 
The  great  minster  still  dominates  the  place,  the 
beauty  of  pillar,  turret,  and  rose-window  finding  a 
foil  in  the  ugly  gargoyles  which  spout  the  moisture 
from  eave  and  buttress.  The  writer  reached  York 


1644.]  MARSTON  MOOR.  213 

at  the  end  of  a  summer  afternoon,  passing  in  under 
the  ancient  wall  which  girds  the  town  yet,  substan- 
tially as  it  was  left  by  the  King's  engineers,  of  gray- 
stone,  buttressed  and  battlemented,  the  ancient  gates 
intact,  with  the  same  inscriptions  and  escutcheons 
as  when  they  barred  out  the  Parliament.  I  did  not 
linger  long,  but  was  soon  following  the  old  Marston 
road  along  which  the  Parliamentary  army  withdrew 
with  Rupert  on  their  rear.  To  the  westward,  within 
a  mile  or  so,  soon  appeared  a  heavy  growth  of  forest, 
between  which  and  the  road  lay  a  broad,  marshy 
plain  broken  by  hedges.  The  plain  also  extended 
southward,  ending  at  the  distance  of  half  a  league 
in  a  long  low  ridge  ;  grass-land  it  was,  while  on  the 
ridge,  the  harvests,  just  reaped,  were  stacked  high. 
These  were  all  noteworthy  localities.  The  forest 
was  Wilstrop  wood,  of  which  there  will  be  presently 
mention  ;  the  ridge  was  the  ground  upon  which  the 
men  of  the  Parliament  paused  and  turned  at  bay; 
the  marshy  plain  was  Marston  Moor,  the  entire  land- 
scape probably  little  changed  since  the  battle-day, 
except  that  what  was  then  open  moor-land  is  now  an 
enclosed  and  cultivated  tract. 

Long  Marston  has  changed  less,  perhaps,  than  the 
fields  about  it.  It  is  a  straggling  village  of  thatched 
cottages  placed  at  irregular  distances  along  a  wind- 
ing street,  homes  of  the  farmers  who  apparently  form 
the  entire  population,  for  there  is  no  sign  of  manu- 
facture or  trade.  Inquiries  after  some  one  who  knew 
something  about  the  battle  seemed  likely  at  first  to 
bring  little  to  pass,  but  at  last  an  old  farmer  was 
found  who  said  that  his  stock,  father  and  son,  had 


214  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1644. 

been  upon  the  spot  almost  since  the  battle-day,  and 
who  claimed  to  know  the  important  points  of  the 
field.  So  between  six  and  seven  o'clock,  the  sun  still 
bright  of  the  long  English  summer  day,  the  very 
hour  when  the  battle  began,  the  writer  rode  with  the 
farmer,  in  a  two-wheeled  cart  without  springs,  down 
a  track  which  led  into  the  centre  of  Marston  Moor, 
and  studied  the  field  from  the  point  where  the  fight 
was  most  desperate. 

Let  us  now  look  more  closely  at  these  two  armies, 
each  about  twenty-five  thousand  strong,  who  are 
about  to  fight  the  greatest  battle  that  has  taken 
place  on  English  soil  since  the  Wars  of  the  Roses. 
To  form  the  force  of  the  allies,  two  English  armies 
had  been  joined  to  that  of  the  Scotch,  one  led  by  the 
Fairfaxes,  the  young  Sir  Thomas  becoming  every 
day  more  noted,  the  other  by  the  Earl  of  Manches- 
ter; in  the  latter  army  the  cavalry  was  commanded 
by  Cromwell,  who  so  far  had  found  but  small  oppor- 
tunity. The  chief  command  was  still  in  the  hands 
of  the  old  field-marshal  of  Gustavus,  Leven,  but  it 
would  have  gone  hard  with  the  Parliament  had  there 
not  been  better  soldiers  than  he.  Sir  Thomas  Fair- 
fax had  covered  the  rear  as  the  allies  withdrew ;  and 
as  he  began  at  Marston  to  feel  the  breath  of  Rupert's 
sharp  pursuit,  he  sent  hot  alarm  to  the  advance,  post- 
ing himself  at  the  same  time  at  the  village.  He  had 
some  seasoned  troops,  but  the  horse  of  Lambert,  a 
brilliant  soldier  during  the  years  that  followed,  were 
raw  recruits.  Next  to  Fairfax,  the  line  running  west- 
ward along  the  ridge,  Leven  placed  his  centre  or 
main  "  battle  "  as  it  was  called,  tough  Scotch  infan- 


1 644.]  MARSTON  MOOR.  215 

try,  sternest  Covenanters,  massed  in  solid  'squares, 
the  pikemen  in  the  centre,  the  musketeers  on  either 
flank ;  a  superannuated  arrangement  which  Gustavus 
had  discarded,  but  the  military  pedant  was  afraid  of 
innovations.  Uncouth  and  often  repugnant  forms 
these  old  Covenanters  are,  as  the  investigator  digs 
them  out  of  the  historic  stratum  which  holds  their 
fossils,  as  remote  from  our  sympathies  almost  as  the 
extinct  saurians,  —  with  their  interminable  sermons, 
their  all-night  theological  debates,  their  all-day  pray- 
ers ;  —  indeed,  worse  than  that,  for  they  burned 
witches  and  warlocks  by  the  score,  and  a  dismal  ap- 
paratus of  thumb-screws  and  torturing  boots  stood 
close  at  hand  to  their  courts  of  justice.  But  what 
for-life-and-death-devotedness,  what  craggy  strength, 
and  in  the  end,  what  superb  accomplishment,  —  that 
forceful  Scotch  character,  which  to-day  leavens  the 
world  to  such  good  purpose!  Among  them  that 
day  was  the  Lord  Eglinton,  called  "  old  gray  steel  " 
for  his  courage,  —  Cassilis,  known  as  the  grave  and 
solemn  earl,  while  Lindsay,  stanch  enough  to  have 
been  a  son  of  John  Knox,  led  the  men  of  Fife.  The 
Lords  who  were  in  command  were  generally  inexpe- 
rienced, but  the  lieutenant-colonels  and  majors  under 
them  were  often  veterans  from  the  Thirty  Years'  War, 
schooled,  sometimes  demoralized  and  steeled  to  all 
forms  of  ruthlessness,  in  desperate  scenes  of  carnage 
and  license.  Among  these  the  best  soldier  was  Da- 
vid Leslie.  The  world  has  not  often  seen  stouter 
men  than  were  the  Scots  that  day,  but  some  of  them 
were  destined  to  gain  little  credit,  rather  perhaps 
through  the  force  of  circumstances  than  any  failure 
of  their  own. 


2l6  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1644. 

West  of  the  Scotch,  who  formed  the  centre,  came 
the  English  infantry  of  the  army  of  Manchester,  one 
body  commanded  by  Pickering,  a  young  cousin  of 
the  poet  Dryden,  and  another  by  a  spirited  boy  of 
nineteen,  Montague,  destined  to  great  fame  after- 
ward as  the  Earl  of  Sandwich,  one  of  the  greatest 
of  English  Admirals.  As  the  infantry  to  the  east 
were  flanked  by  cavalry,  so  to  the  west,  at  a  village 
called  Tockwith,  at  the  extreme  left  of  the  Parlia- 
mentary line,  were  the  troopers  of  David  Leslie,  be- 
tween whom  and  the  infantry  sat  on  their  powerful 
chargers  a  body  of  about  twenty-three  hundred  men, 
conspicuous  at  a  glance  from  out  the  entire  host,  as 
in  every  way  perfectly  appointed  and  disciplined.  It 
was  the  horse  of  Oliver  Cromwell.  Notice  them 
well,  out  on  the  left  wing  there,  the  afternoon  sun 
flashing  from  the  left  upon  them  as  they  steadily 
range  themselves. 

What  has  the  rude-looking  squire  whose  careless 
dress  so  shocked  in  Parliament  Sir  Philip  Warwick 
been  doing  through  all  the  disturbed  times  ?  He  was 
early  at  the  head  of  a  troop  of  cavalry  in  the  eastern 
counties,  and  though  full  forty-three  years  old  when 
he  took  sword  in  hand,  soon  wielded  it  as  if  he  were 
born  for  it.  In  the  earlier  desultory  skirmishing  he 
was  foremost  in  many  a  raid,  making  himself  espe- 
cially to  be  talked  of  by  his  promptness  in  circum- 
venting the  authorities  at  Cambridge,  who  were 
arranging  to  send  the  university  plate  to  the  King. 
He  was  in  the  melee  at  Edgehill,  where  there  is  little 
record  of  what  he  did.  This  night,  on  Marston 
Moor,  he  was  to  win  his  first  great  fame  —  he  and 


1 644.]  MARSTON  MOOR.  Zl'J 

his  men  equally  good  at  prayer,  at  sermon,  and  at 
sabre.  At  Warwick  Castle  you  are  shown  the  steel 
cap  that  covered  the  head  of  this  most  magnificent 
of  Englishmen,  as  he  galloped,  and  smote,  and 
shouted  his  Old  Testament  war-cries,  where  the 
danger  was  thickest. 

So  the  twenty-five  thousand  stood  ranged,  their 
artillery  in  front,  the  line  a  mile  and  a  half  long,  from 
Marston  to  Tockwith.  As  they  took  position  they 
trampled  down  the  tall  grain  just  ready  for  harvest ; 
now  and  then  a  dash  of  summer  rain  incommoded 
them ;  it  is  said  that  as  Covenanter  and  Puritan 
sang  their  battle-hymns,  low  thunder  in  the  heavens 
was  heard  in  the  pauses. 

As  there  was  division  in  the  host  of  the  Parlia- 
ment, Scot  and  Englishman  not  coalescing  with  en- 
tire cordiality,  so  among  the  Cavaliers,  Rupert  had 
touched  with  his  superciliousness  the  haughty  soul 
of  Newcastle.  York  had  been  relieved ;  there  were 
good  military  reasons  for  avoiding  battle ;  but  Ru- 
pert's spur  was  hot,  and  he  had  galloped,  as  we  have 
seen,  after  the  withdrawing  foe.  Nevertheless,  there 
was  delay  in  forming  the  Cavalier  line.  Some  of 
the  regiments  were  mutinying  for  pay,  and  both 
Rupert  and  Newcastle,  says  a  chronicler,  "  had  been 
forced  to  play  the  orator  to  them  "  all  the  forenoon. 
At  length,  however,  on  the  Moor,  an  answering  line 
had  placed  itself  opposite  the  Parliament.  The 
Scots  of  the  centre  were  opposed  by  a  division  of 
Newcastle's  foot,  among  them  the  "  White  Coats,"  a 
superb  body  of  troops  composed  of  the  Earl's  own 
tenantry.  Opposite  Fairfax  was  posted  Goring, 


2l8  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY   VANE.  [1644. 

with  Urry  for  a  subordinate,  both  conspicuous  vil- 
lains, the  latter  a  soldier  of  fortune  of  the  most  mer- 
cenary type,  changing  sides  repeatedly,  from  King 
to  Parliament,  and  Parliament  to  King,  during  the 
war.  Already  he  had  brought  about  the  death  of 
Hampden,  guiding  Rupert,  to  whom  he  had  just  de- 
serted from  the  Parliament,  to  the  camp  of  those  who 
had  shortly  before  been  his  friends.  In  the  battle 
about  to  begin,  as  the  second  of  Goring,  and  with 
the  help  of  a  soldier  of  a  different  type,  the  high- 
minded  knight  Sir  Charles  Lucas,  he  was  to  come 
very  near  winning  the  victory  for  the  King.  The 
other  wing,  opposite  Manchester  and  Cromwell,  was 
held  by  Rupert's  men :  first  his  infantry ;  then  his 
horse,  till  now  irresistible,  five  thousand  troopers, 
into  whom  the  Prince  had  poured  a  fire  like  his  own. 
As  the  lines  were  forming,  a  Roundhead  prisoner 
was  brought  in,  of  whom  Rupert  asked,  pointing  to- 
ward the  Parliamentary  right,  "  Is  Cromwell  there?" 
The  Roundhead  answered,  "  Yes."  "  Will  they 
fight  ?  "  continued  Rupert.  '  If  they  will,  they  shall 
have  fighting  enough."  The  prisoner  was  sent  back 
to  his  friends  unharmed  with  this  message.  "  If  it 
please  God,"  said  Cromwell  solemnly  under  his  hel- 
met, "so  shall  it  be." 

The  Prince  wore,  it  is  said,  a  scarlet  cloak,  and 
was  followed  by  his  huge  white  dog  "  Boy,"  concern- 
ing whom  the  wildest  tales  were  believed.  His 
master  had  found  him  and  trained  him  in  Germany, 
and  he  followed  Rupert  everywhere.  Many  a  brave 
man's  heart  sank  as  the  great  brute  passed  him,  for 
in  that  superstitious  time,  some  said  he  was  a  fa- 


1 644.]  MARSTON  MOOR.  2ig 

miliar  spirit,  —  others,  that  he  was  a  Lapland  lady  or 
a  powerful  wizard  in  disguise,  —  others,  that  he  was 
the  Devil  himself.  This  night  he  was  to  meet  his 
death  while  in  the  act  of  pulling  down  a  Roundhead. 

While  the  lines  were  forming,  heavy  cannonading 
had  been  going  forward  from  the  twenty  or  thirty 
pieces  which  each  side  possessed.  The  foemen  faced 
each  other  across  a  narrow  interval,  but  a  deep  ditch, 
designed  to  drain  the  Moor,  divided  them,  known  as 
the  White  Syke.  There  was  little  difference  in  the 
appearance  of  the  two  armies,  and  the  Parliament 
men  wore  therefore  a  white  badge  in  their  hats. 
Rupert's  standard  of  silk,  some  five  yards  long  and 
broad,  emblazoned  with  the  arms  of  the  Palatinate 
and  with  a  cross  of  red,  waved  over  his  life-guard. 
"  God  and  the  King,"  was  the  Cavalier  watchword ; 
"  God  and  our  cause,"  that  of  Parliament. 

The  fight  began  at  seven,  Manchester's  foot  and 
the  Scots  of  the  main  body  advancing  in  a  running 
march  across  the  ditch,  and  charging  vigorously. 
Soon  the  two  lines,  equally  eager,  moved  forward 
throughout  their  lengths ;  the  cavalry  on  both  sides 
following  rushed  together  at  a  gallop,  with  a  clink- 
ing of  blades,  a  crashing  of  armor,  and  a  tumult  of 
hoof-beats,  that  made  the  battle  at  once  the  wild- 
est tumult.  Fairfax  had  at  first  the  more  difficult 
task,  for  he  was  forced  to  proceed  through  bad 
ground,  by  a  narrow  lane,  crossing  ditches,  and  im- 
peded by  hedges  of  furze.  Urry  and  Lucas  struck 
his  column  with  all  the  spirit  possible,  as  it  toiled 
toward  them  through  the  Moor;  and  in  spite  of  all 
their  leader  could  do,  his  force,  with  the  exception 


220  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1644. 

of  his  own  regiment,  was  soon  in  flight.  Fairfax 
himself  received  across  the  cheek  a  deep  sabre-cut, 
the  scar  of  which  he  always  bore,  and  his  major, 
pierced  with  thirty  wounds,  died  on  the  field.  Lam- 
bert's recruits,  in  terror,  rode  over  the  infantry  of 
their  own  side,  until  all  were  in  flight  upon  the 
right,  except  the  handful  whom  Sir  Thomas  could 
still  hold  firm.  What  became  of  him  we  shall  pres- 
ently see. 

The  Parliamentary  right  wing  therefore  was  ut- 
terly broken  and  dispersed.  How  fared  it  with  the 
centre?  Lucas  and  Urry  attacked  it  by  the  right 
flank,  which  the  rout  of  Fairfax's  wing  had  exposed. 
Here  fought  the  "White  Coats"  of  Newcastle,  heroic 
troops,  although  that  eve  they  had  not  the  leadership 
of  the  Earl  himself.  He,  assured  by  Rupert  that 
there  would  be  no  battle  that  night,  had  gone  to  take 
a  quiet  smoke  in  his  travelling  carriage.  Roused  by 
the  confusion  of  the  Parliamentary  onset  before  he 
had  taken  a  whiff,  he  had  sprung  among  the  com- 
batants, but  he  fought  without  command  as  a  simple 
volunteer.  Stubborn  as  granite  stood  three  regi- 
ments of  the  Scotch  centre,  those  attacked  and  those 
attacking  wrapped  in  battle-smoke,  lurid  with  the 
frequent  glare  of  cannon,  —  the  deafening  tumult  of 
war-cries,  the  clang  of  armor,  the  staccato  of  mus- 
ketry rolling  far  away.  Multitudes  beside  them 
did  indeed  break  and  flee,  following  in  the  track  of 
the  other  fugitives.  Among  these  was  the  Earl  of 
Leven  himself,  who  thought  all  was  lost.  A  trav- 
eller who  that  eve  was  coming  toward  York  has  left 
a  vivid  account  of  the  flying  men  who  impeded  his 


1 644-]  MARS  TON  MOOR. 

progress  along  the  road,  —  officers  of  foot  without 
hat  or  sword,  —  horse  and  infantry  mingled  together 
to  the  number  of  many  thousands,  the  Scots  lament- 
ing dismally  :  "  Wae  's  us,  we  are  all  undone !  "  As 
some  of  the  Scots  too  soon  lost  heart,  so  the  Cava- 
liers on  their  side  believed  too  soon  that  the  battle 
was  gained,  and  parties  of  them  fell  to  plundering 
the  baggage  on  the  ridge.  It  was  negligence  most 
ill-timed. 

The  sun  now  was  just  at  its  setting,  the  level  light 
tingeing  the  war-cloud  above  the  cumbered  field. 
Though  the  day  seemed  lost  on  the  side  of  Marston, 
the  opposite  wing  had  had  different  fortune.  While 
the  infantry  of  Manchester  had  boldly  come  to  push 
of  pike  with  the  foe,  the  horse  of  Cromwell,  minding 
as  little  the  volleys  of  the  musketeers  whom  Rupert 
had  posted  in  the  White  Syke  ditch  as  they  had  the 
summer  rain  of  the  afternoon,  spurred  forward.  Ru- 
pert and  many  of  his  troopers  had  dismounted  and 
were  at  supper,  but  all  were  in  the  saddle  in  an  in- 
stant under  the  folds  of  the  great  banner.  His  own 
charge  was  as  prompt  and  fiery  as  that  of  the  Puri- 
tans, and  the  thousands  of  galloping  horses  and 
brandishing  swords  met  together,  like  nothing  so 
much  as  two  oceans  suddenly  opposed.  They  stood, 
says  the  old  describer,  "  a  pretty  while  at  sword's 
points,  hacking  one  another."  How  horses,  over- 
thrown, writhed  and  rolled  upon  their  riders,  how 
headpiece  and  corselet  rang  to  lance  and  sabre,  how 
the  war-cries  were  shouted,  the  fierce  Old-Testament 
phrase  from  the  lip  of  Roundhead,  the  curse  from 
Cavalier,  the  trampling  and  smiting,  the  prayers  for 
mercy,  the  defiance,  —  how  can  it  be  told  ? 


222  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1644. 

"  Wouldst  hear  the  tale  ?    On  Marston  Heath 
Met  front  to  front  the  ranks  of  death. 
Flourished  the  trumpets  fierce,  and  now 
Fired  was  each  eye,  and  flushed  each  brow. 
On  either  side  loud  clamors  ring, 
4  God  and  the  cause  ! '    '  God  and  the  King  ! ' 
How  each  fierce  zealot  fights  and  bleeds 
For  King  or  state  as  humor  leads  ! 
At  trumpet's  sound  the  battle's  rage 
Was  like  the  strife  which  currents  wage, 
Where  Orinoco  in  his  pride 
Rolls  to  the  main  no  tribute  tide, 
But  'gainst  broad  ocean  urges  far 
A  rival  sea  of  roaring  war. 

....  That  heart  of  flame 
Hot  Rupert  on  our  squadrons  came, 
Hurling  against  our  spears  a  line 
Of  gallants,  fiery  as  their  wine. 
But  the  stout  Cromwell  ne'er  gave  way; 
On  his  barbed  horse  he  won  the  day."  x 

For  a  moment  all  seemed  lost  for  the  Parliament. 
Cromwell,  wounded  in  the  neck,  was  for  the  time 
being  stunned.  The  Roundheads  missing  his  shout 
recoiled,  and  were  on  the  brink  of  ruin.  David 
Leslie,  however,  drove  in  with  his  Covenanters  like 
lightning  on  the  Cavalier  flank.  Cromwell,  dashing 
the  stupor  from  his  senses,  was  in  an  instant  himself 
again.  The  steeds  of  the  Cavaliers  were  forced  back 
on  their  haunches,  the  line  was  beaten  through  and 
through :  at  last  a  great  rush  of  panic-struck  fugi- 
tives poured  eastward  to  where  the  twilight  was  be- 
ginning to  gather  in  the  heavy  Wilstrop  wood. 

Just  here  it  was,  while  Cromwell  and  Leslie  paused 
from  pursuit  of  the  flying  foe,  that  a  group  of  pant- 
ing horsemen,  with  broken  armor  and  steeds  almost 
spent,  suddenly  appeared  in  the  midst  of  the  victors. 

1  Scott,  Rokeby,  Canto  I.  12,  13. 


I644-]  MARSTON  MOOR.  22$ 

Their  leader,  scarcely  recognizable  through  the  gore 
from  the  sabre-cut  upon  his  face,  was  wellnigh  faint- 
ing, and  all  had  evidently  but  just  emerged  from  a 
life -and -death  struggle.  It  was  Fairfax,  who  from 
his  conquered  wing  had  cut  his  way  through  the 
pursuers.  In  the  smoke  and  uproar,  the  ends  of  the 
long  battle  line  had  little  idea  how  their  comrades 
were  faring.  Fairfax  brought  the  first  news  of  his 
defeat.  Instantly  the  horse  of  the  left  wing,  not  less 
perfect  in  discipline  than  ardent  in  courage,  obeyed 
their  leader's  call,  were  back  once  more  at  the  White 
Syke  close  at  hand  to  the  hard-pressed  Parliamen- 
tary centre  —  "  both  sides  not  a  little  surprised  that 
they  must  fight  it  over  again,  when  each  thought 
victory  gained."  The  face  of  the  battle  was  exactly 
counterchanged.  In  the  twilight,  what  still  remained 
unbroken  of  each  army  stood  opposed,  the  Cavaliers 
on  the  original  Roundhead  ground,  the  Roundheads 
on  that  of  the  Cavaliers.  In  the  shadows  the  fight 
became  more  than  ever  close  and  desperate,  but  the 
scale  inclined  to  the  Parliament. 

The  White  Coats  stand  alone  at  length,  all  the  re- 
sistance beaten  down  about  them,  within  the  White 
Syke  Close,  a  space  on  the  Moor  ditched  in  and 
difficult  of  access.  Here  they  die,  disdaining  to  flee, 
lying  in  ranks  as  they  had  stood,  refusing  all  quarter. 
As  the  late  day  fades,  the  moon  lights  the  awful 
battle-wreck  upon  which  at  length  a  hush  descends. 
From  a  distance,  however,  from  the  gloom  of  Wil- 
strop  wood  and  far  along  the  road  comes  a  sound  of 
galloping  hoofs,  of  the  stroke  of  sword  upon  armor, 
of  voices  raised  in  entreaty.  The  victors,  tireless, 


224  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1644. 

implacable,  far  into  the  night,  pursue  the  fugitives 
to  the  gates  of  York.  "  God,"  says  Cromwell,  "  gave 
them  as  stubble  to  our  swords."  •  "  I  am  sure,"  said 
Rupert,  "  my  men  fought  well,  and  know  no  reason 
of  our  rout  but  this  :  because  the  Devil  did  help  his 
servants."  Defeat  was  never  more  complete.  More 
than  four  thousand,  for  the  most  part  Cavaliers,  were 
buried  upon  the  field,  and  many  more  were  slain 
in  the  pursuit.  Thus  the  mighty  Oliver  bore  Ru- 
pert to  the  earth,  and  Rupert  it  was  who  then  and 
there  gave  him  the  name  Ironside^ 

So,  at  seven  o'clock  of  the  summer  evening,  the 
hour  when  the  battle  was  beginning,  the  writer  rode 
out  of  Marston  village  on  to  the  battlefield  in  the 
two-wheeled  cart,  a  wide-awake  north-country  boy 
driving,  with  the  old  farmer  for  a  guide.  The  farmer 
told,  as  we  proceeded,  of  the  battlefield  of  Towton, 
close  in  the  neighborhood,  the  scene  of  the  bloodiest 
struggle  between  the  Red  and  White  Roses ;  but  the 
absorbing  interest  of  the  acres  we  were  now  travers- 
ing made  one  indisposed  to  listen  to  anything  uncon- 
nected with  the  later  contest.  Close  at  hand,  on  the 
ridge  to  the  left,  a  clump  of  trees  marked  the  head- 
quarters of  the  Parliament,  just  in  the  rear  of  the 
army.  The  road  we  were  following  ran  toward  Tock- 
with,  and  marked  the  line  where  stood  the  troops  of 
Fairfax.  The  farmer  toid  of  seeing  skeletons  disin- 
terred, and  how  fine  and  sound  the  teeth  were;  evi- 
dently of  men  young  and  in  their  full  strength.  At 
last  we  turned  from  the  highroad  into  a  lane  that 

1  Gardiner,  Great  Civil  War,  i.  p.  449. 


1 644-]  MARSTON  MOOR.  22$ 

led  into  the  Moor,  —  the  very  lane  down  which 
Fairfax  had  charged,  running,  without  doubt,  as  it  did 
then.  The  weather  had  been  dry ;  but  the  Moor  was 
still  so  marshy  that  the  hoofs  of  the  stout  farm-horse 
slumped  in  the  black  mire,  and  we  jarred  unsteadily 
on  as  now  one  wheel,  now  the  other  sank  into  a  rut. 
From  a  quarter  to  a  half  mile  of  such  progress,  and 
turning  to  the  left,  we  were  presently  on  the  brink  of 
a  deep  ditch,  the  White  Syke  itself,  and  in  the  cen- 
tre of  the  field.  The  spot  was  plainly  recognizable 
as  that  where  the  hardest  fighting  was  done.  Here 
Goring  and  Urry  met  Fairfax  as  he  debouched  upon 
the  Moor,  striking  into  ruin  the  slender  column,  as, 
after  its  compression  between  the  hedges,  it  sought 
to  deploy  upon  the  more  open  ground.  Right  here,, 
too,  it  was  that  Cromwell  and  David  Leslie,  after 
their  stubborn  breasting  of  Rupert's  fire,  charged 
home  upon  the  backs  of  the  Cavalier  centre,  at  the 
very  moment  when  with  their  pikes  they  were  thrust- 
ing into  rout  the  Scots  of  Leven.  "  Just  here,"  said 
the  old  man,  indicating  with  his  hand  a  strip  of  plain 
before  us,  "  many  skeletons  have  been  ploughed  up." 
Now  and  then  a  cannon-ball  appears  ;  and  often  bul- 
lets, the  lead  covered  with  a  white  corrosion  from  a 
burial  of  two  centuries  and  a  half  in  the  damp  soil. 
It  was  the  place  where  the  "  White  Coats  "  had  died 
in  their  ranks  as  they  had  stood,  shouting  with  their 
last  breath  for  God  and  the  King. 

All  was  substantially  as  on  that  fateful  eve,  except 
that  hedges  now  divide  the  Moor  more  frequently 
than  then.  I  looked  across  to  where  the  spire  of 
Tockwith  rose  among  the  trees  at  the  distance  of  a 


226  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY   VANE.  [1644. 

mile.  Pleasant  green  acres  lay  between,  which  in 
my  fancy  I  peopled  with  a  fierce  confusion  of  clang- 
ing troopers,  —  long-locked  Cavaliers,  under  a  broad 
crimson  banner,  the  sunset  flashing  on  their  corselets, 
swooping  after  the  handsome  prince  in  his  cloak  of 
scarlet,  —  clashing  against  them  the  torrent  of  Iron- 
sides, in  their  articulated  steel,  while  Oliver,  praying, 
entreating,  shouting  his  war-cry,  brandished  in  front 
of  them  his  remorseless  sabre.  All  lay,  on  the  night 
of  my  visit,  in  the  quietest  peace.  The  deepening 
evening  lent  solemnity  to  the  fields ;  and  to  the  shad- 
ows also  of  Wilstrop  wood,  close  at  hand,  where  the 
fugitives  were  cut  to  pieces,  the  trees  of  which,  it  is 
said,  bore  long  in  their  hearts  the  Parliamentarian 
bullets.  At  the  bottom  of  the  White  Syke,  still  good 
cover  for  resolute  infantry  and  a  dangerous  obstacle 
to  horse,  ran  a  sullen  black  stream.  How  ghastly 
the  stain  with  which  that  current  had  once  been 
flushed  !  I  dismissed  the  cart  and  bade  my  guide 
good-night.  The  last  load  of  hay  for  the  day  was 
going  home  out  of  the  fertile  field  where  the  "  White 
Coats  "  lay  buried.  I  climbed  over  the  White  Syke  as 
an  old  musketeer  might  have  done,  and  as  the  twi- 
light grew  deep,  crossed  the  fields  over  which  had 
advanced  the  King's  left.  Had  his  right  advanced 
that  evening  to  as  good  a  purpose,  Charles  I  would 
have  regained  his  throne  ! 


CHAPTER  XI. 

NASEBY. 

AT  Marston  Moor,  although  the  success  was  great, 
the  snake  had  merely  been  scotched,  not  killed. 
For  a  year  longer  the  decision  was  doubtful.  On 
the  2d  of  August,  an  entry  in  the  "  Commons  Jour- 
nal "  shows  that  Vane,  quite  worn  out,  was  excused 
from  his  place  "  to  go  into  the  country  for  the  recov- 
ery of  his  health,  and  to  stay  for  a  fortnight  or  there- 
abouts." In  September,  however,  there  was  press- 
ing need  of  every  good  Parliament  man,  for  on  the 
ist  of  the  month  the  King  brought  the  Earl  of  Es- 
sex to  surrender  in  the  Southwest,  and  toward  the 
end  from  Scotland  came  most  alarming  news.  Mont- 
rose,  the  most  meteoric  of  heroes,  suddenly  blazed 
forth  in  the  King's  behalf,  —  with  a  handful  of  wild 
Irishmen  and  Highlanders  still  wilder  than  they, 
making  light  of  all  natural  barriers  of  flood,  precipice, 
or  distance,  mocking  the  valor  of  opposing  armies, 
until  victory  seemed  pledged  to  him.  In  these  days 
there  was  much  to  dispirit  the  Scots  who  had  come 
to  England  to  help  the  Parliament.  To  their  morti- 
fication, only  the  horse  of  David  Leslie  and  two  or 
three  regiments  of  Leven's  foot  had  gained  much 
credit  at  Marston  Moor ;  they  were  in  sore  trouble 
over  the  thunderbolt  about  to  fall  upon  their  homes 


228  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1644. 

in  their  absence  ;  to  crown  all,  their  English  friends 
were  turning  from  them  in  a  lamentable  way.  The 
tide  of  Independency  was  rising  higher  and  higher, 
and  Baillie  is  greatly  afraid  lest  in  the  army  "  our 
silly,  simple  lads  "  may  suffer  from  the  infection.  A 
few  passages  will  make  plain  the  situation. 

"  September  16,  1644. 

"  While  Cromwell  is  here,  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, without  the  least  advertisement  to  any  of  us, 
or  of  the  Assembly,1  passes  an  order  that  the  grand 
Committee  of  both  Houses,  Assembly,  and  us,  shall 
consider  of  the  means  to  unite  us  and  the  Indepen- 
dents ;  or,  if  that  be  found  impossible,  to  see  how 
they  may  be  tolerated.  This  has  much  affected  us. 
These  men  have  retarded  the  Assembly  these  long 
12  mos.  Our  greatest  friends,  Sir  Henry  Vane  and 
the  Solicitor  [St.  John]  are  the  main  procurers  of 
all  this ;  and  that  without  any  regard  to  us,  who  have 
saved  their  nation,  and  brought  these  two  persons  to 
the  height  of  the  power  they  enjoy,  and  use  to  our 
prejudice.  We  are  on  our  ways  with  God  and  men, 
to  redress  all  these  things  as  we  may.  We  had  much 
need  of  your  prayers.  The  great  shot  of  Cromwell 
and  Vane  is  to  have  a  liberty  of  all  religions,  without 
any  exceptions."  2 

"  October,  1644. 

"  We  were  here  for  some  days  under  a  cloud.  The 
disasters  lamentable  in  Scotland  about  St.  Johnston 
and  Aberdeen ;  the  prolongation  of  the  siege  of  New- 
castle ;  the  scattering  of  Essex's  army  in  the  West  ; 

1  The  Westminster  Assembly  of  Divines.          a  Baillie,  ii.  61  etc. 


1644-]  NASEBY.  22Q 

Sir  Harry  Vane,  our  most  entire  friend,  joining  with 
a  new  faction  to  procure  liberty  for  sects  ;  these  and 
sundry  other  misaccidents,  did  much  afflict  us  for  a 
fortnight.  .  .  .  We  have  strange  tugging  with  the 
Independents.  .  .  . 

"...  Sir  Henry  Vane,  whom  we  trusted  most,  had 
given  us  many  signs  of  his  alteration ;  twice  at  our 
table  prolixly,  earnestly,  and  passionately  had  rea- 
soned for  a  full  liberty  of  conscience  to  all  religions, 
without  any  exceptions  ;  had  publicly,  in  the  House, 
opposed  the  clause  in  the  ordination  that  required 
ministers  to  subscribe  the  Covenant,  and  that  which 
did  intimate  their  being  over  their  flocks  in  the  Lord ; 
had  moved  the  mustering  of  our  army,  as  being  far 
less  than  we  were  paid  for ;  had  been  offended  with 
the  Solicitor  for  putting  in  the  ordinance  the  differ- 
ences about  church  government,  and  not  only  about 
free-grace,  intruding  liberty  to  the  Antinomians,  and 
to  all  sects ;  he,  without  the  least  occasion  on  our 
side,  did  openly  oppose  us.  Always  God  has  helped 
us  against  him  and  them  egregiously  to  this  day. 
We  were  much  in  prayer  and  longing  expectation 
that  God  would  raise  us  from  our  lowness,  near  to 
contempt,  and  compesce  their  groundless  insolency." 

The  Scots  honestly  thought  themselves  badly 
treated.  Just  as  honestly  had  the  Independents  on 
their  side  by  no  means  intended  to  suppress  liberty 
of  conscience  :  the  dying  words  of  Vane  are  enough 
to  establish  that  point.  The  language  of  the  Solemn 
League  and  Covenant  did  not  at  all  call  for  such  a 
sacrifice  as  that.  He  was  denounced  as  a  cheat  by 


230  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1644. 

those  who  had  been  his  friends.  What  other  defence 
needs  to  be  made  for  him  than  that  he  did  not  in  the 
least  forfeit  the  love  and  respect  of  the  best  men  of 
his  time,  who  also  are  among  the  purest  men  of  all 
times  !  Roger  Williams,  who  now  returns  to  Amer- 
ica, had  lived  as  it  were  in  his  bosom  and  wore  him 
in  his  heart  of  hearts ;  and  John  Milton  was  not  less 
fervent. 

Independency  was  in  fact  sweeping  all  before  it. 
Though  not  in  majority  in  Parliament,  yet  the  Inde- 
pendents were  so  much  the  more  able  that  they  con- 
trolled all.  Still  more  significant  it  appeared  that 
the  rising  General  Cromwell,  his  invincible  Ironsides, 
and  all  the  best  soldiers,  stood  on  the  same  side.  The 
leaders  who  had  so  far  appeared  (and  here  perhaps  a 
parallel  may  be  seen  to  our  own  civil  war)  were  fight- 
ing in  gingerly  fashion  too  often,  not  wanting  to  treat 
with  too  much  severity  enemies  with  whom  in  a  few 
months  they  might  effect  an  accommodation.  Crom- 
well had  already  sent  a  thrill  through  their  minds  by 
roughly  declaring,  if  he  met  the  King  in  battle  he 
would  as  soon  fire  his  pistol  at  him  as  at  any  other 
man.  In  the  misfortunes  of  Essex  the  Independents 
rejoiced,  —  possibly,  so  some  think,1  connived  ;  for 
though  he  was  a  brave  and  honorable  soldier,  it  was 
felt  that  no  substantial  success  could  be  achieved  un- 
der him,  and  that  it  was  well  he  should  bring  himself 
to  disgrace.  At  length,  at  the  time  when  Baillie  was 
bemoaning  the  slighted  Solemn  League  and  Cov- 
enant, on  the  27th  of  October  was  fought  the  second 
battle  of  Newbury,  a  fiercely  contested  field,  where 

1  Guizot,  English  Revolution,  262. 


1 644.]  NA  SEE  Y.  231 

victory  was  sadly  balked  for  the  Parliament  by  the 
sluggishness  of  Manchester.  Cromwell,  who  now 
vibrated  between  the  saddle  and  his  seat  in  Parlia- 
ment, riding  equally  rough  -  shod  in  either  place, 
broke  out  against  his  leader  at  St.  Stephens.  "  Ever 
since  Marston  Moor  he  is  afraid  to  conquer,  afraid 
of  a  great  and  decisive  success.  But  now,  when  the 
King  was  last  near  Newbury,  nothing  would  have 
been  more  easy  than  entirely  to  destroy  his  army.  I 
went  to  the  General ;  I  showed  him  evidently  how 
this  could  be  done.  I  desired  his  leave  to  make  the 
attack  with  my  own  brigade.  Other  officers  urged 
with  me ;  but  he  obstinately  refused,  saying  only,  that 
if  we  were  entirely  to  overthrow  the  King's  army,  the 
King  would  still  be  King  and  always  have  another 
army  to  keep  up  the  war  ;  while  we,  if  we  were  beaten, 
should  no  longer  be  anything  but  rebels  and  traitors 
executed  and  forfeited  by  the  law." 3 

But  a  great  change  was  preparing.  The  famous 
Baxter,  though  an  enemy  of  the  Independents,  may 
perhaps  here  be  quoted.2  "  Many  honest  and  intelli- 
gent people  indeed  were  now  for  new  modelling  the 
army,  putting  out  the  looser  men  and  taking  in  those 
who  were  more  strict  and  sober ;  but  Vane  and 
Cromwell,  joining  together,  outwitted  and  overreacht 
the  rest,  and  carried  on  their  own  particular  interest 
successfully."  The  method  they  took  was  by  a 
"  Self  Denying  Ordinance"  Baxter  continues :  "Be- 
cause commands  in  the  army  had  much  pay,  and  Par- 
liament men  should  keep  to  the  service  of  the  House, 

1  Carlyle's  Cromwell,  \.  1 56.  History  of  his  Life  and  Times,  ii. 

3  Abridgment  of   Mr.  Baxter's     53,  54. 


232  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1644. 

therefore  no  Parliament  men  should  be  members  of 
the  army."  On  the  gth  of  December,  after  a  speech 
by  Cromwell,  in  which  a  new  step  was  hinted  at,  an 
obscure  member  of  Parliament,  Zouch  Tate,  moved 
"  that  no  member  of  either  House  shall,  during  this 
war,  enjoy  or  execute  any  office  or  command,  civil  or 
military,  and  that  an  ordinance  be  brought  in  accord- 
ingly." It  was  with  design  perhaps  that  an  unknown 
man  was  selected  to  introduce  so  radical  a  measure, 
which  might  arouse  in  such  a  way  a  less  decided  op- 
position than  if  it  originated  with  one  of  the  chiefs, 
whose  every  move  was  sure  to  be  combated.  The 
proposed  measure,  by  a  shrewd  indirection,  was  de- 
signed to  shelve  effectually  the  old  Generals  without 
giving  offence.  Vane  seconded  the  motion  of  Tate, 
and  in  spite  of  a  fierce  debate,  the  Independents 
managed  to  carry  it  in  the  Commons.  Precisely  the 
course  which  matters  took,  it  is  difficult  to  follow. 
For  some  days  the  fate  of  the  bill  was  in  doubt,  and 
on  December  18  a  solemn  fast  took  place,  when,  to 
affect  public  sentiment,  sermons  were  given  at  vari- 
ous points  in  London,  and  one  at  Westminster,  at 
which  both  Houses  were  present.  Immediately  af- 
ter, Clarendon  represents  Vane  in  the  Commons  as 
making  a  speech  as  follows  :  *  — 

"  If  ever  God  had  appeared  to  them,  it  was  in  the  ex- 
ercise of  yesterday,  and  that  it  appeared,  it  proceeded 
from  God,  because  (as  he  was  credibly  informed  by 
many,  who  had  been  auditors  in  other  congregations) 

1  Clarendon,  iv.  1826  etc.    God-  Empire,  iii.  552) ;  but  Vane  must 

win  doubts  the  value  of  Clarendon's  have    said    something    similar  to 

report  (Hist,  of  Common.™,  i.  395) ;  this, 
so  too,   Brodie  (Hist,  of  British 


1 644.]  NASEBY.  233 

the  same  lamentations  and  discourses  had  been  made 
in  all  other  churches,  as  the  godly  preachers  had  made 
before  them ;  which  could  therefore  proceed  only 
from  the  immediate  spirit  of  God.  He  repeated  some 
things  which  had  been  said,  upon  which  he  was  best 
prepared  to  enlarge ;  and  besought  them  '  to  remem- 
ber their  obligations  to  God  and  to  their  country ; 
and  that  they  would  free  themselves  from  those  just 
reproaches ;  which  they  could  do  no  otherwise,  than 
by  divesting  themselves  of  all  offices  and  charges, 
that  might  bring  in  the  least  advantage  and  profit  to 
themselves ;  by  which  only  they  could  make  it  ap- 
pear, that  they  were  public-hearted  men ;  and  as  they 
paid  all  taxes  and  impositions  with  the  rest  of  the  na- 
tion, so  they  gave  up  all  their  time  to  their  country's 
service,  without  any  reward  or  gratuity.'  He  told 
them,  '  that  the  reflections  of  yesterday,  none  of 
which  had  ever  entered  upon  his  spirit  before,  had 
raised  another  reflection  in  him  than  had  been  men- 
tioned. ;  which  was,  that  it  had  often  been  taken  no- 
tice of  and  objected  by  the  King  himself,  that  the 
numbers  of  the  members  of  Parliament,  who  sat  in 
either  House,  were  too  few  to  give  reputation  to 
acts  of  so  great  moment  as  were  transacted  in  their 
counsels ;  which,  though  it  was  no  fault  of  theirs  who 
kept  their  proper  stations,  but  of  those  who  had  de- 
serted their  places,  and  their  trusts  by  being  absent 
from  the  Parliament,  yet  that  in  truth,  there  were  too 
many  absent,  though  in  the  service  of  the  House, 
and  by  their  appointment ;  and  if  all  the  members 
were  obliged  to  attend  the  service  of  the  Parliament, 
in  the  Parliament,  it  would  bring  great  reputation 


234  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1644. 

to  their  numbers,  and  the  people  would  pay  more 
reverence,  and  yield  a  fuller  obedience  to  their  com- 
mands ; '  and  then  concluded,  '  that  he  was  ready  to 
accuse  himself  for  one  of  those  who  gained  by  an 
office  he  had ;  and  though  he  was  possessed  of  it  be- 
fore the  beginning  of  the  troubles,  and  owed  it  not 
to  the  favor  of  the  Parliament  (for  he  had  been  joined 
with  Sir  William  Russell  in  the  Treasurership  of  the 
Navy  by  the  King's  grant)  yet  he  was  ready  to  lay 
it  down  to  be  disposed  of  by  the  Parliament,  and 
wished  that  the  profits  thereof  might  be  applied  to- 
wards the  support  of  the  war.' ' 

Cromwell  followed  Vane  in  similar  strain.  On 
December  21,  the  vigor  and  genius  of  the  Indepen- 
dents forced  the  Self  Denying  Ordinance  through 
the  Commons,  but  it  was  obstinately  opposed  by  the 
Lords.  Of  the  men  whom  it  would  have  the  effect 
to  supersede,  like  Essex,  Manchester,  the  Earl  of 
Denbigh,  another  military  leader,  and  the  Earl  of 
Warwick,  commander  of  the  fleet,  a  large  proportion 
were  Peers.  The  measure,  in  fact,  if  carried  would 
deprive  the  diminished  House  of  Lords  of  almost  all 
power,  and  their  resistance  cannot  be  wondered  at. 
In  favor  of  peace,  petitions  were  circulated  :  to  these, 
counter  petitions  were  opposed,  which  found  more  fa- 
vor with  magistrates  and  influential  men,  "  Sir  Henry 
Vane  having  diligently  provided  that  men  of  his  own 
principles  and  inclinations  should  be  brought  into  the 
government  of  the  city ;  of  which  he  saw  that  they 
should  always  have  great  need,  even  in  order  to  keep 
the  Parliament  well  bestowed."  1  In  January,  how- 

1  Clarendon,  iv.  1824. 


1645.]  f       NASEBY.  235 

ever,  desperate  over  the  situation,  the  peace  party 
brought  about  a  conference  with  Royalists  at  Ux- 
bridge,  at  which  earnest  efforts  were  made  toward  an 
accommodation.  But  the  demands  on  both  sides  were 
most  conflicting  and  violently  pressed :  bad  temper 
increased :  whatever  tendency  to  yield  the  King  had 
showed  he  suddenly  suppressed.  News  had  come  of  a 
great  victory  by  Montrose  in  Scotland,  and  Charles, 
feeling  that  his  skies  were  brightening,  stiffened  him- 
self against  the  rebels.  The  conference  was  broken 
off,  and  the  Independents  pushed  their  schemes  with 
all  possible  tact  and  energy.  The  New  Modeless  de- 
vised.1 The  old  Generals  being  got  rid  of  by  the  Self 
Denying  Ordinance,  the  different  forces  were  to  be 
combined  into  one  army,  at  the  head  of  which  was  to 
be  put  the  brilliant  soldier  who  had  done  so  well  on 
many  a  field  of  the  North,  and  who  now  was  gashed 
by  the  wounds  of  Marston  Moor,  Sir  Thomas  Fair- 
fax. In  the  nick  of  time  came  now  from  Scotland 
the  Marquis  of  Argyle,  a  man  of  vast  influence  in  his 
nation,  whom  Vane  had  come  to  know  well  when  at 
Edinburgh  the  year  before.  The  two  men  were 
friends.  >  Argyle,  though  Presbyterian,  was  less  hide- 
bound than  his  fellows,  and  believed  in  a  vigorous 
pushing  of  the  war.  His  weight  with  the  Scotch  com- 
missioners was  decisive.  Early  in  April  the  struggle 
was  over.  The  old  Generals  were  set  aside ;  the 
armies  were  combined  and  reorganized.  The  Scots 
stood  separate  in  the  North,  besieging  Newcastle ; 
but  in  the  Midlands,  the  New  Model,  under  Fairfax, 
prepared  to  offer  to  the  King  a  style  of  warfare  which 
he  had  not  yet  known. 

1  Commons  Journals;  Whitacre's  Diary. 


236  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1645. 

The  Lords  had  reason  to  feel  that  for  them  the 
hand  was  writing  on  the  wall.  Cromwell  had  curtly 
thundered,  "  There  would  never  be  a  good  time  in 
England  till  we  had  done  with  the  Lords,"  l  and  had 
told  Manchester  that  it  would  not  be  well  till  he  him- 
self "  were  but  plain  Mr.  Montague."  The  Indepen- 
dents were  for  the  most  part  from  the  People  and 
threw  themselves  upon  the  People.  Vane  thus  pre- 
sents matters  at  Guildhall  to  the  city,  on  the  4th  of 
March,  when  the  New  Model  is  in  the  air :  — 

"  My  lord  Mayor,  worthy  Aldermen,  and  you  Gen- 
tlemen of  the  Common  Council:  the  Houses  of  Par- 
liament have  in  all  matters  of  importance  thought  fit 
to  make  this  city,  and  particularly  this  Council  here, 
privy  to  their  actions,  as  having  found,  (to  their  great 
contentment)  the  usefulness  of  their  affections  to 
the  public ;  when  they  have  so  done,  at  this  time,  (as 
you  have  already  heard)  they  have  sent  us  to  you  for 
a  double  end :  The  one,  to  give  you  a  clear  represen- 
tation of  the  candor  of  their  actions  and  intentions 
in  this  late  treaty,  —  the  other,  the  firmness  and 
faithfulness  of  their  resolutions  to  live  and  die  with 
you  and  the  rest  of  the  Kingdom,  in  the  prosecution 
of  this  war  upon  the  opposers  of  peace,  until  it  shall 
please  God  to  give  them  the  happiness  of  a  safe  and 
blessed  peace,  which  now  they  think  the  only  means 
left  them  is,  by  a  vigorous  prosecution  of  the  war. 
....  That  which  they  find  most  considerable  at 
this  time  for  them,  and  for  the  good  of  the  Kingdom, 
and  indeed  of  both  Kingdoms,  is,  to  make  you  as 
sensible  of  the  necessity  of  all  your  assistance  and 

1  Carlyle,  i.  156. 


i645-]  NASEBY. 

helpfulness  to  put  a  speedy  force  into  the  field ;  God 
hath  gone  before  us  in  it  already ;  and  truly  in  such 
a  miraculous  way,  so  unexpected,  and  so  immediately 
by  his  own  hand,  that  it  is  an  encouragement  in 
every  heart  that  hears  it,  to  be  following  God  in  this 
work.  .  .  .  These  foundations  being  thus  laid,  of 
encouragement  to  the  Houses,  and  we  hope  to  your- 
selves, they  are  very  desirous  at  this  time  for  to  see 
fresh  demonstrations  of  your  love  and  affection  to 
them  and  to  this  cause,  by  using  all  the  endeavors 
that  lie  in  your  power  for  an  advance  of  a  present 
sum  of  money,  considering  that  they  have  forces, 
which  they  are  now  moulding  and  framing,  which 
they  hope  to  have  in  a  very  good  posture,  in  case 
that  they  can  have  money  to  make  them  take  the 
field.  They  have  done  the  best  that  lies  in  their 
power  for  enabling  these  moneys  to  come  in,  in  a 
seasonable  time,  but  not  so  soon  as  it  will  be  useful 
to  the  publique.  ...  If  it  pleased  God  that  we  can 
be  but  betimes  in  the  field,  we  may  be  able  to  com- 
pose these  unhappy  differences  amongst  ourselves. 
Therefore,  it  is  earnestly  recommended  to  you,  that 
in  this  great  action  that  now  may  be  for  the  saving 
of  the  Kingdoms,  that  you'll  be  pleased  to  stretch 
forth  your  thoughts  and  endeavors."1 

The  Earl  of  Northumberland,  and  the  Scotchman 
Loudon,  spoke  at  the  same  time,  but  the  decisive 
address  was  that  of  Vane.  The  city  responded  gen- 
erously to  the  appeal.  On  the  loth  of  March  a  re- 
port was  made  which  insured  the  raising  of  the  ne- 
cessary means  "  for  the  new  army  under  Sir  Thomas 

1  Thomasson  Tracts,  cclxxii. 


238  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1645. 

Fairfax,"    four    citizens    "  offering    £80,000    for  its 
speedy  advance." 1 

The  Self  Denying  Ordinance,  as  it  passed  the 
Lords  at  last,  April  3d,  was  somewhat  changed  in 
form.  All  members  of  either  House  who  had  since 
November  20,  1640,  been  appointed  to  any  offices, 
military  or  civil,  should,  at  the  end  of  forty  days  from 
the  passing  of  the  ordinance,  vacate  these  offices,  — 
a  phrasing  which  we  shall  soon  see  led  to  important 
results.  It  is  significant  that  the  project  of  the  New 
Model  was  made  to  originate  in  the  Committee  of 
Both  Kingdoms,2  where  the  influence  of  Vane  was 
so  powerful.  A  majority  of  the  Scotch  Commission- 
ers must  have  concurred,  a  thing  very  essential  to 
its  success,  and  this  concurrence  must  have  been 
brought  about  by  Argyle.  Just  before,  Montrose 
in  Scotland  had  utterly  discomfited  Argyle,  who  was 
then  at  the  head  of  an  army,  but  his  prestige  seems 
to  have  been  unaffected.  One  is  forced  to  believe 
that  he  did  not  at  all  perceive  the  full  bearing  of  the 
new  measures,  and  that  the  terrible  Sectaries,  "all 
from  New  England,"  as  Baillie  writes,  would  make 
them  a  means  for  bringing  themselves  still  higher. 
Argyle  was  a  good  Presbyterian,  but  he  was  drawn 
to  Vane  and  believed  in  vigorous  war.  Both  he  and 
Vane  were  of  a  subtle  spirit.  Says  one  of  Vane's 
most  earnest  panegyrists : 3  "A  genuine  frankness 
upon  some  very  interesting  and  momentous  occa- 
sions cannot  be  affirmed  of  either ;  and  we  shall  not 

1  London  Post,  Mar.  1 1 ;  Mod-        8  Godwin,  History  of  Common' 
erate  Intelligencer,  Mar.  6  to  13.        wealth,  i.  404. 

2  Whitacre's  Diary. 


1645.]  NASEBY.  239 

be  likely  to  be  erroneous,  if  we  assert  of  Vane,  that 
he  did  not  at  this  crisis  disclose  to  his  noble  friend 
everything  that  was  passing  in  his  mind  on  the  sub- 
ject." 

It  certainly  will  not  be  inappropriate  to  leave 
Vane  for  a  time  at  Westminster,  while  we  follow  the 
fortunes  of  the  New  Model  which  he  had  done  so 
much  to  set  upon  its  feet,  fortunes  which  he  in- 
deed to  some  extent  guided,  for  the  Committee  of 
Both  Kingdoms  now  made  their  authority  felt  in  the 
field  as  never  before.  Cromwell  was  on  the  point 
of  resigning  his  commission  in  accordance  with  the 
Self  Denying  Ordinance.  A  few  days,  however,  re- 
mained of  the  forty  days  of  grace  which  had  been 
allowed,  and  on  April  22  Fairfax  was  ordered  by  the 
Committee  of  Both  Kingdoms  to  send  Cromwell  on 
an  important  expedition.  In  two  days  he  had  won 
two  noteworthy  victories,  routing  three  regiments  of 
Rupert's  horse,  and  capturing  an  important  fortress. 
Such  an  arm  could  not  be  spared.  Fairfax  de- 
manded him,  and  by  special  ordinance  of  the  Com- 
mons, he  was  retained  for  forty  days  longer,  becom- 
ing second  in  command.  And  now  as  the  New 
Model  stands  on  the  brink  of  one  of  the  most  mem- 
orable battles  of  history,  let  us  look  at  it  somewhat 
more  closely.1 

As  Cromwell  was  Lieutenani-General  to  Fairfax, 
so  next  in  rank,  as  Major-General,  stood  the  tough 
leader. of  the  London  train-bands,  Skippon, — well- 

1  Authorities  for  Naseby:  Sprigge,  Anglia  Rediviva;  Whitelocke, 
Memorials  ;  Rushworth ;  Markham's  Fairfax,  etc. 


240  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1645. 

seasoned  in  war  before  his  superior  had  ever  drawn 
a  blade,  and  a  fighter  of  the  stoutest  ever  since  the 
Roundheads  had  been  marshalled.  Under  these  ap- 
peared, at  the  heads  of  regiments  and  troops,  a  crowd 
of  forceful  young  officers,  many  of  whom  had  risen 
from  the  ranks.  Often  they  were  of  noble  or  gentle 
birth,  like  Colonel  Algernon  Sidney,  Sir  Robert  Pye, 
brother-in-law  of  Hampden,  and  Montague,  the  brave 
boy  of  nineteen  whom  we  saw  on  the  brink  of  the 
White  Syke  ditch.  Often,  too,  they  were  of  humble 
origin.  Pride  was  a  foundling  in  a  church-porch,  and 
afterwards  a  drayman  ;  Hewson  had  been  a  cobbler ; 
Watson,  Scoutmaster- General,  head  of  the  intelli- 
gence department,  a  goldsmith  of  Lincoln ;  Okey, 
major  of  the  "  cuirassiers,"  a  tallow-chandler  and  Ana- 
baptist. Notice  in  particular  one  among  these  men 
—  a  captain  thirty-six  years  old,  once  a  gentleman- 
commoner,  of  Trinity  College,  Oxford,  afterwards 
barrister  of  the  Middle  Temple,  Henry  Ireton. 

Whatever  differences  in  rank  might  exist  in  the 
New  Model,  a  religious  tone,  stern  to  fanaticism,  per- 
vaded it  throughout.  At  the  word  of  command,  the 
most  rigid  discipline  prevailed,  each  man  holding 
himself  ready  to  go  through  fire  and  water  at  the 
bidding  of  his  officer.  Once  dismissed,  however, 
distinctions  seemed  forthwith  to  disappear.  All  was 
levelled  to  an  equality,  and  the  preacher  in  the  tem- 
porary pulpit,  on  a  cannon,  or  an  ale-house  bench, 
or  a  tomb  in  a  church-yard,  now  praying,  now  lead- 
ing the  psalm,  now  improving  some  bitter  Apocalyp- 
tic text  until  the  exhortation  became  rant,  might  be 
a  common  trooper,  a  colonel,  or  Cromwell  himself : 


1645.]  NASEBY.  241 

if  the  preacher  were  but  lively  and  painful,  all  else 
was  overlooked. 

Few  prophesied  well  of  the  New  Model.  The 
superseded  Generals,  whose  swords  henceforth  were 
to  rust  in  the  scabbard,  surveyed  from  their  shelves, 
with  great  disgust,  the  changes,  and  felt  certain  of 
disaster.  The  King,  to  whom  the  Roundheads  had 
now  given  the  name  "the  man  of  blood,"  and  his 
friends  called  the  New  Model  the  "  New  Noddle," 
and  were  sure  that  a  single  charge  of  Rupert  would 
be  enough  to  send  flying  the  crop-eared,  sanctimo- 
nious knaves  who  composed  it. 

The  opening  events  of  the  campaign  of  1645 
heightened  these  hopes  of  the  Malignants,  and  de- 
pressed correspondingly  the  Parliament.  Montrose, 
dashing  from  the  Highlands  with  his  tattered,  unin- 
telligible horde,  transformed  by  his  genius  into  a 
warlike  instrument  of  consummate  efficiency,  utterly 
prostrated  the  Covenanters  at  Kilsyth,  and  the  Scots 
at  once  retired  northward.  The  King  at  the  same 
time  swept  through  the  Midlands  with  a  host  light- 
hearted  and  enterprising,  and  on  June  rst  stormed 
successfully  the  important  stronghold  of  Leicester. 
Powder,  guns,  provisions,  and  a  capital  point  of  van- 
tage were  gained:  of  the  large  garrison  that  fell 
captive  that  day  a  certain  humble  private  was  des- 
tined to  a  wider  and  nobler  fame  than  any  man  per- 
haps at  that  time  in  arms,  not  even  excepting  Crom- 
well,—  the  ex -tinker  John  Bunyan.  The  cheerful 
King  wrote  to  the  Queen  that  his  affairs  had  never 
been  in  so  good  a  position.  As  Fairfax,  directed 
from  Derby  House  by  Vane's  committee,  marched 


242  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1645. 

northward,  Charles  came  toward  him  in  leisurely 
fashion,  spending  whole  days  in  hunting.  "  If  we 
peripatetics,"  he  wrote  to  Oxford,  his  main  headquar- 
ters, "  get  no  more  mischances  than  you  Oxford- 
ians  are  like  to  have  this  summer,  we  may  all  expect 
a  merry  winter."  As  the  New  Model  approached, 
the  King  retired,  and  Fairfax,  reconnoitring  during 
a  dark  rainy  night,  heard  from  close  at  hand  the 
rumble  of  the  wagons  and  tramp  of  the  men,  as  the 
Malignants  by  their  watch-fires  broke  camp  and 
marched  toward  Pomfret.  He  was  stopped  on  his 
return  by  one  of  his  own  sentries,  and  forgetting  the 
pass-word  was  threatened  with  death  if  he  advanced 
another  step ;  so  he  waited  in  the  rain  until  the  offi- 
cer of  the  guard  appeared.  On  the  i3th  of  June, 
Ireton,  suddenly  promoted  at  the  request  of  Crom- 
well to  be  Commissary-General,  surprised  at  midnight 
the  King's  rear -guard.  That  day,  too,  most  fortu- 
nately, out  of  the  eastern  counties  appeared  Cromwell 
with  the  Ironsides,  in  full  ranks  and  the  finest  heart. 

Following  in  the  track  of  Fairfax  as  he  sought 
the  Cavaliers,  the  present  writer  rode  through  the 
rolling  country,  —  now  a  tedious  push  of  the  tricycle 
up  a  steep  pitch,  then  the  exhilarating  coast,  from 
the  crest  into  the  hollow.  The  land  gradually  rose, 
until  at  length  from  a  point  six  hundred  feet  above 
the  sea-level  rose  a  tall  spire  —  Naseby,  Navelsby,  the 
centre  of  England.  He  passed  between  the  rows  of 
brick  cottages  that  made  up  the  village,  and  after 
dining  at  the  inn  with  the  beautiful  horse-chestnut 
trees  of  the  church-yard  close  by,  turned  northward, 
and  was  presently  in  a  by-road  between  high  haw- 


1645.]  NASEBY.  243 

thorn  hedges.  A  steep  incline  carried  the  rider 
from  the  plateau  into  low  ground,  through  which 
flowed  a  brook,  a  slope  down  which  he  rushed  with 
his  hand  on  the  brake,  with  the  air  singing  in  his 
ears.  In  the  low  ground  was  a  gate  at  the  roadside, 
opening  which  he  followed  a  cart-path  to  the  Broad- 
Moor  farm.  In  a  great  field  rising  gradually  toward 
the  Naseby  spire,  to  his  left,  as  he  made  his  way 
rather  painfully  along  the  rough  track,  he  saw  the 
Broad-Moor  farmer  and  his  men,  pitching  into  cocks 
ready  for  the  wagon  the  heavy  windrows  of  hay 
which  the  August  sun  had  just  thoroughly  cured. 
He  went  to  the  group  through  the  stubble  on  foot : 
and  the  strong  farmer,  leaning  on  his  pitchfork,  re- 
ceived him  well.  He  now  stood  in  the  centre  of  the 
battlefield  of  Naseby,  on  the  declivity  of  Mill  Hill ; 
a  mile  northward,  the  ground  rose  from  the  low  land 
in  an  answering  ridge,  Dust  Hill ;  beyond  which 
still  another  could  be  seen,  Sibbertoft  ridge.  The 
names  are  all  as  on  the  battle-day,  and  the  appear- 
ance of  things  quite  unchanged,  except  that,  as  at 
Marston  Moor,  what  was  then  partially  waste  land  is 
now  thoroughly  cultivated,  and  a  few  hedges  divide 
what  was  then  quite  unenclosed. 

On  the  morning  of  June  14,  1645,  Fairfax,  march- 
ing out  from  Naseby,  saw  from  Mill  Hill  the 
flashing  pikes  and  waving  pennons  of  the  King,  just 
coming  in  sight  over  Sibbertoft  ridge  to  the  north. 
The  Cavaliers  were  no  longer  in  the  mood  for  retir- 
ing, and  presently  were  marching  over  Dust  Hill, 
scarcely  a  mile  off.  The  drums  and  trumpets,  even 
the  voices  of  men,  must  have  sounded  clearly  across 


244  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1645. 

the  narrow  valley,  and  Fairfax  saw  it  was  time  to 
form  his  line.  Withdrawing  a  furlong  or  so  into  -a 
hollow  behind  Mill  Hill,  he  made  his  dispositions. 
To  the  west,  on  his  left  flank,  behind  Sulby  hedge, 
(the  name  and  the  hedge  are  still  there)  he  put  the 
Anabaptist  major  of  cuirassiers,  Okey,  who  led  a 
force  of  excellent  troops,  dragoons,  for  the  time  being 
dismounted,  but  with  the  horses  close  by  in  charge 
of  the  odd  man  of  each  troop.  We  may  imagine 
the  stout  "  lobsters,"  in  steel  curiously  jointed,  with 
sharp  antennae  in  the  way  of  half-pike  and  sword- 
blade.  Next  to  him,  going  eastward  from  the  hedge, 
ran  the  left  wing  under  Ireton,  quondam  scholar 
and  lawyer,  one  of  the  best  brains  and  bravest  hearts 
in  England,  Cromwell's  favorite,  afterwards  his  son- 
in-law,  for  the  first  time  in  high  command  on  that 
day,  promoted  from  a  captaincy  over  the  heads  of 
many  older  soldiers ;  the  rapid  advance,  however, 
quite  justified  by  his  merit.  In  front  of  the  centre 
was  a  "  forlorn  hope  "  of  musketeers,  arranged  as 
skirmishers,  behind  whom  stood  five  regiments  of 
foot  under  the  stout  and  genial  old  Skippon,  grizzled 
from  campaigns  in  the  Low  Countries,  whose  cheer- 
ful, honest  shout  to  his  men  seems  to  peal  heartily 
out  of  the  long  past  time  even  now.  "  Come,  my 
boys,  my  brave  boys  !  let  us  pray  heartily  and  fight 
heartily  !  I  will  run  the  same  fortunes  and  hazards 
with  you.  Remember,  the  cause  is  for  God,  and 
for  the  defence  of  yourselves,  your  wives,  and  your 
children."  Two  of  Skippon's  colonels,  in  the  front 
line,  were  the  boys  Pickering  and  Montague,  beard- 
less veterans  from  Marston  Moor.  In  the  reserve, 


1645-]  NASEBY.  245 

Pride  the  drayman,  and  Hammond  a  gentleman 
and  Oxford  scholar,  impetuous  fighters  both,  stood 
shoulder  to  shoulder.  The  right  wing,  to  the  east, 
was  formed  of  the  Ironsides,1  six  regiments,  of 
which  Cromwell  held  two  in  reserve.  It  is  worth 
while  so  far  to  particularize  as  to  say  that  the  one 
this  day  specially  noticeable  was  led  by  Whalley, 
afterwards  the  regicide  who  fled  for  his  life  to  New 
England,  —  the  hero  of  one  of  the  most  familiar  and 

O 

picturesque  of  colonial  traditions,  —  the  saving  of 
Hadley  in  the  Connecticut  valley  from  Indian  attack 
near  the  time  of  King  Philip's  war.  The  baggage 
was  in  the  rear  of  Ireton,  to  the  west  of  Naseby, 
guarded  by  a  thin  line  of  match-lock  men,  ranged 
round  it  in  a  circle. 

As  to  the  King's  array,  against  Ireton  stood  Ru- 
pert, his  force  in  three  brigades,  one  ^f  them  com- 
manded by  his  younger  brother  Maurice,  just  such 
another  young  hawk,  but  weaker  in  pinion  and 
talon.  Sir  Jacob  Astley  led  the  centre,  a  fine  type 
of  the  better  Cavaliers,  trained  by  the  great  Gusta- 
vus,  his  ardor  not  at  all  extinguished  under  his  gray 
hairs,  a  sleepless,  honorable  captain,  the  same  who 
made  the  trooper's  honest  prayer  at  Edgehill.  The 
left  wing  was  under  Sir  Marmaduke  Langdale,  a 
thin,  serious  Yorkshireman,  full  of  enterprise,  which, 
however,  was  tempered  by  judgment, — one  of  the 
King's  best  soldiers.  He  had,  however,  the  draw- 
back of  a  hasty  temper ;  and  now  as  the  armies  were 
on  the  point  of  joining,  high  words  were  exchanged 

1  This  name,  given  by  Rupert  to  Cromwell,  was  extended  to  the  sol- 
diers whom  he  commanded. 


246  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1645. 

between  him  and  his  subordinates,  a  want  of  union 
most  ill-timed,  when  the  points  that  glinted  on  the 
hillside  opposite  were  those  of  the  Ironsides.  His 
command,  the  northern  horse,  it  is  said,  had  wished 
to  march  northward,  and  were  on  the  point  of  mu- 
tiny because  prevented.1  The  forces  were  in  number 
scarcely  half  as  large  as  those  engaged  at  Marston 
Moor;  on  both  sides,  however,  the  troops  were  bet- 
ter, and  led  with  the  finest  courage. 

So  the  armies  stood  in  the  middle  of  that  beauti- 
ful June  forenoon,  solid  English  masses  on  both  sides, 
scarcely  distinguishable  except  that  the  Cavaliers 
wore  in  their  hats  a  green  sprig,  and  the  Roundheads 
a  badge  of  white.  The  Puritan  ensign  is  said  to 
have  displayed  five  Bibles  upon  a  ground  of  black : 
the  standards  of  their  opponents  were  of  course  far 
gayer  and  more  numerous.  At  the  centre  burned 
the  crimson  banner  of  the  King  embroidered  in  gold 
with  a  crown  and  lion.  One  troop  bore  the  streamer 
of  the  Queen,  of  white  silk,  while  another  displayed 
a  flag  of  flowered  damask.  On  the  right  wing  flew 
a  sky  blue  color,  that  of  Rupert,  who  in  this  way 
replaced  the  one  lost  the  year  before  at  Marston 
Moor. 

As  the  writer  read  on  the  field  the  story  of  the 
battle,  which  he  had  brought  with  him,  he  could 
trace  narrowly  the  position  of  the  two  lines.  Prince 
Rupert's  lodge,  an  old  farm-building  which  tradition 
makes  to  have  been  his  temporary  head-quarters,  was 
half  a  mile  off  on  the  opposite  rise. '  Down  the  gentle 
descent  before  it  one  could  follow  with  the  eye  the 

1  S.  R.  Gardiner,  in  a  private  letter  to  the  author. 


1645.]  NASEBY.  247 

track  of  his  horsemen,  when,  thinking  Fairfax  was 
retreating  as  he  withdrew  behind  the  Mill  Hill  to 
form,  the  Prince  rode  impetuously  forward,  breaking 
the  King's  line.  Just  here  to  the  right  it  was  that 
Charles,  that  day  every  inch  a  King,  in  complete  ar- 
mor, with  fine  horsemanship,  galloped  along  his  front. 
"  Soldiers,  will  you  fight  for  me  ?  "  he  called.  "  All  — 
all ! "  was  the  enthusiastic  cry,  mixed  with  shouts  of 
"  Queen  Mary  !  "  the  battle  cry,  as  the  solemn  ranks 
of  Fairfax,  amid  their  prayers  and  psalms,  shouted, 
"  God  with  us ! " 

It  was  between  ten  and  eleven  that  Fairfax,  at 
length  thoroughly  ready,  reappeared  upon  Mill  Hill 
in  sight  of  Rupert,  who  had  paused  in  the  hollow  for 
the  remainder  of  the  line  to  come  up.  The  cannon- 
ade that  had  preceded  the  close  grapple  at  Marston 
Moor  had  been  found  to  produce  small  effect ;  this 
day  there  was  little  booming  of  heavy  guns  on  either 
side.  Rupert  came  on  at  once  with  all  his  extraor- 
dinary gallantry,  and  the  ranks  of  Ireton  rushed  to 
meet  him  with  a  shout.  As  the  mad  tide  of  Cava- 
liers swept  with  a  heavy  thunder  of  hoofs  along  Sulby 
hedge,  the  dragoons  in  ambush  among  the  hawthorn 
poured  in  a  heavy  flanking  fire,  which,  however,  the 
horsemen  little  minded.  Okey  declared  afterward 
that  he  saw,  as  he  peered  through  the  leaves,  the 
King  himself,  at  the  head  of  a  troop  in  the  second 
line,  bearing  himself  most  valiantly.  The  contest 
lasted  but  a  few  minutes.  The  Roundheads  gave  way, 
the  colonels  struggling  desperately  to  hold  their  men 
as  they  were  mercilessly  overridden  and  sabred.  The 
dragoons  alone  behind  the  hedge  were  cool  and  un- 


248  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE,  [1645. 

yielding,  the  steady  barrels  pouring  a  side  fire  upon 
the  melee,  the  horses  close  at  hand,  to  be  mounted 
on  the  instant  when  a  fit  time  should  come.  They 
gave  themselves  up  for  lost,  however,  when  the  Cava- 
lier blades  flashing  as  they  turned  in  the  sun,  and 
the  rearing  chargers,  passed  rapidly  southward,  driv- 
ing before  them  the  rout  of  fugitives.  But,  as  al- 
ways, Rupert  went  too  fast  and  too  far,  drawing  rein 
first  at  the  baggage-train  beyond  Naseby.  An  eye- 
witness who  sat  there  within  the  circle  of  match- 
lock men  has  given  a  vivid  picture  of  the  riding  up 
of  the  troopers,  the  Prince  in  front  in  a  red  Spanish 
cap.  The  commander  of  the  baggage  train,  suppos- 
ing him  to  be  Fairfax,  asked  him,  hat  in  hand,  how 
the  battle  was  going.  He  was  asked  in  turn  if  he 
would  have  quarter,  whereat  the  musketeers  trained 
their  sights  upon  the  intruders,  who  straightway 
turned  back. 

How  fared  it  elsewhere,  meanwhile  ?  Sir  Marma- 
duke  Langdale,  as  brave  as  Rupert,  had  spurred  with 
his  troopers  against  the  Roundhead  right ;  but  Crom- 
well launched  at  them  the  regiment  of  Whalley,  who 
met  them  in  full  career,  and  again  were  the  Malig- 
nants  given  as  stubble  to  the  swords  of  the  Ironsides. 
The  ground  was  here  difficult  for  the  horse  of  the 
Parliament,  but  they  broke  through  everything,  till 
the  scene  on  the  west  was  repeated  on  the  east  with 
the  parties  reversed,  except  that  Cromwell  never  went 
too  fast  and  too  far. 

At  the  centre,  the  foot  stood  till  close  upon  noon 
in  the  fiercest  conflict,  —  mutual  volleys,  then  a  rush- 
ing forward  into  push  of  pike  and  clubbing  of  mus- 


1 645.]  NASEBY.     •  249 

kets.  Gray  Sir  Jacob  Astley  holds  the  King's  men 
sternly  to  their  work,  till  the  Parliamentary  line  wav- 
ers and  gives  ground.  Skippon,  while  bringing  up 
Pride  with  the  reserves,  finds  his  armor  broken  and 
his  side  pierced  by  a  bullet,  but  he  shouts  that  "  he 
will  not  stir  so  long  as  a  man  shall  stand."  Pride 
drives  ruthlessly  against  the  advancing  line.  Ireton 
from  the  left,  rallying  a  party  of  his  routed  men, 
smites  in  upon  the  flank,  hip  and  thigh  :  his  horse  is 
shot,  his  leg  pierced  with  a  pike ;  a  halbert  thrust 
gores  his  face  in  ghastly  fashion.  Thus  maimed  and 
blood-stained,  he  is  taken  prisoner.  Watchful  Okey 
now,  his  dragoons  in  an  instant  mounting,  forsakes 
his  hedge,  gallops  across  the  vacant  position  of  the 
King's  right,  and  repeats  the  blow.  Fairfax,  too, 
dashes  in  with  his  life-guard  from  the  east ;  and  soon 
Cromwell,  having  trampled  out  Sir  Marmaduke,  is 
upon  the  rear  with  the  terrible  Ironsides.  Under  the 
hot  noon  sun  the  death  -  grapple  goes  on  till  the 
Roundheads  beat  everything  to  the  earth  before  them. 
Astley,  unhelmed,  makes  his  way  with  difficulty  from 
among  the  hoofs  of  the  horses,  and  the  war-cry 
"  Queen  Mary,"  becomes  a  cry  for  quarter.  Only 
Loughborough's  blue  regiment  stands  like  the  White 
Coats  in  the  White  Syke  Close.  Fairfax's  life-guard 
charge  them  twice  in  vain.  Struck  in  front  and 
rear  simultaneously,  they  melt  before  the  smiting 
arms,  disdaining  to  be  spared,  until  the  Roundheads 
meet  in  the  centre,  Fairfax  himself  seizing  their  en- 
sign and  slaying  its  bearer. 

Now,  Rupert,  returning  at  a  leisurely  pace,  draws 
up  upon  Mill  Hill,  and  casts  a  glance  over  the  battle 


250  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1645. 

which  he  has  supposed  was  gained.  The  horses  are 
blown  and  the  ardor  of  his  men  relaxed.  He  might 
have  come  to  the  help  of  the  routed  centre  ;  but  as 
he  passes  downward,  suddenly  out  of  the  battle-smoke 
a  troop  of  Ironsides  charges  his  flank,  and  all  is  con- 
fusion. "  Face  about  once  more,"  cries  Charles  to 
his  reserve.  "  Give  one  charge  more  and  recover  the 
day  !  "  At  the  same  time  he  sets  spurs  to  his  horse 
and  is  in  the  act  of  dashing  forward.  The  troops 
are  fresh  and  might  possibly  have  accomplished 
something:  but  the  Earl  of  Carnewarth,  a  timid 
Scotch  courtier,  suddenly  lays  hand  upon  the  King's 
bridle :  "  Will  you  go  upon  your  death  in  an  in- 
stant ?  "  he  says.  Before  Charles  can  prevent,  his 
horse  swerves,  and  word  runs  through  the  troops 
that  they  are  to  wheel  to  the  right.  The  unfortu- 
nate King  seems  to  set  an  example  of  flight :  a  sud- 
den panic  seizes  all,  and  a  mad  rout  tears  northward. 
The  implacable  squadrons  of  Cromwell  are  at  once 
upon  them,  and  the  roads  are  strewn  with  slaugh- 
tered fugitives.  —  What  frenzy  of  the  war-horse  ! 
what  fierce  exulting  of  the  fanatic  rider,  shouting  the 
war-cries  of  Gideon  and  Joshua,  his  weapon  heavy  as 
a  weaver's  beam  !  How  the  long  -  locks  are  sweat 
through  and  dishevelled  —  the  fine  scarfs  and  em- 
broidery rent  and  blood-stained  in  the  death  agony 
of  that  long  summer  afternoon  ! 

"  Fools,  your  doublets  shone  with  gold,  and  your  hearts  were  gay  and 
bold, 

When  you  kissed  your  lily  hands  to  your  lemans  to-day ; 
And  to-morrow  shall  the  fox,  from  her  chamber  in  the  rocks, 

Lead  forth  her  tawny  cubs  to  howl  above  the  prey. 


1645.]  NASEBY.  251 

"  Where  be  your  tongues  that  late  mocked  at  heaven  and  hell  and  fate, 
And  the  fingers  that  once  were  so  busy  with  your  blades, 

Your  perfumed  satin  clothes,  your  catches  and  your  oaths, 
Your  stage-plays  and  your  sonnets,  your  diamonds  and  your  spades  ? 

"  Down,  down,  forever  down  with  the  mitre  and  the  crown, 
With  the  Belial  of  the  court,  and  the  Mammon  of  the  Pope. 

There  is  woe  in  Oxford  halls  :  there  is  wail  in  Durham's  stalls  : 
The  Jesuit  smites  his  bosom  :  the  Bishop  rends  his  cope. 

"  And  she  of  the  seven  hills  shall  mourn  her  children's  ills, 
And  tremble  when  she  thinks  on  the  edge  of  England's  sword ; 

And  the  Kings  of  earth  in  fear  shall  shudder  when  they  hear 

What   the   hand  of   God   hath   wrought  for  the   Houses   and  the 
Word ! "  » 

The  King  drew  rein  first  about  thirty  miles  from 
the  field :  his  power  was  utterly  broken :  thenceforth, 
says  a  Cavalier  writer,  "  like  a  wounded  partridge," 
he  only  flitted  from  one  castle  to  another.  His  army 
was  in  great  part  slain,  and  of  those  left,  who  shall  tell 
how  many  bore  to  the  grave  the  scar  of  Roundhead 
lance  and  bullet !  There  was  booty  of  fifty-five  col- 
ors and  all  the  cannon,  —  of  baggage  heavy  with  the 
plunder  of  Leicester.  Here  was  found  the  King's 
private  correspondence.  The  knightly  Fairfax  re- 
fused to  look  at  it ;  he  had  refused,  just  before  the 
battle,  to  read  a  letter  from  Goring  to  Charles,  which 
had  been  intercepted.  Judged  by  the  usages  of  war, 
he  was  quite  too  punctilious,  but  how  finely  honora- 
ble !  A  Parliamentary  committee,  in  spite  of  the 
General's  opposition,  read  the  letters,  and  found  them 
full  of  evidence  of  the  King's  duplicity.  They  were 
made  public,  and  may  still  be  read  in  the  old  collec- 
tions.2 The  hearts  of  the  people  became  steeled 
against  a  prince  whose  soul  was  full  of  treachery. 

1  Macaulay's  "  Naseby."  2  Harleian  Miscellany,  vol.  v. 


252  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [[645. 

I  had  brought  the  tale  of  the  battle  with  me,  and 
had  it  at  hand  as  I  stood  talking  with  the  Broad  Moor 
farmer  there,  two  hundred  and  forty  years  afterward, 
upon  the  ground  held  by  the  Roundhead  centre. 
The  farmer  leaned  on  his  fork ;  the  horses  caught 
from  the  windrow  a  few  mouthfuls  of  hay,  as  the 
transatlantic  stranger  was  entertained.  Here  Astley 
had  advanced  with  his  levelled  pikes,  as  the  Round- 
heads gave  ground.  Just  here  it  must  have  been 
that  Skippon  staggered :  from  the  thorns  back  there 
Pride  must  have  come  with  his  succor.  I  saw  that 
when  I  came  down  the  hill  with  a  rush,  the  air  sing- 
ing in  my  ears,  I  was  precisely  in  the  track  of  the  Iron- 
sides when  they  flung  themselves  upon  Sir  Marma- 
duke.  One  of  the  laborers  came  forward  with  two 
corroded  bullets  in  his  palm.  He  showed  me  where 
he  found  them  on  the  ground  of  the  Roundhead 
right.  I  bought  them  for  a  shilling.  They  whistled 
once  in  Cromwell's  hearing.  Did  they,  perhaps, 
come  from  the  pistol  of  Rupert  ?  To-night  they  are 
my  paper-weights,  at  all  events.  Bidding  the  farmer 
good-bye,  I  pushed  with  some  difficulty,  clear  across 
the  field  through  the  stubble  to  the  western  verge. 
A  boy  who  guided  me  pointed  out  three  or  four  de- 
pressions on  the  declivity  of  Mill  Hill,  still  traceable, 
and  with  a  rank  growth  of  weeds  about.  They  were 
the  pits  in  which  had  been  buried  the  slain  men  and 
horses.  The  officers  were  buried  under  the  spire  of 
Naseby  church.  A  gate  let  me  through  Sulby  hedge 
to  the  high-road.  From  the  ambush  of  the  dragoons 
here  I  took  my  last  look  in  the  light  of  the  late  after- 
noon, peering  like  those  bronzed  and  moustached 


1 645-]  NASEBY.  253 

warriors  in  their  steel  caps,  through  the  interstices  in 
the  hawthorn.  That  sod  had  been  dinted  by  the 
hoofs  of  Rupert's  war-horse  and  drunk  the  blood  of 
Ireton.  All  lay  in  deepest  peace.  No  spears  glinted 
over  Sibbertoft  ridge  ;  —  a  heavy  load  of  hay  was 
passing  through  the  field  where  the  poltroon  hand 
balked  that  last  charge  of  Charles  which  might  have 
brought  him  to  an  honorable  death.  How  narrow 
for  the  Roundheads  was  the  chance  of  victory !  For 
three  hours  it  was  a  most  doubtful  fight.  Defeat 
would  have  been  utter  destruction  for  them  ;  the  In- 
dependents were  in  the  minority ;  the  rest  of  the  na- 
tion were  about  ready  to  overlook  all  and  restore  the 
King.  Victory  for  the  Cavaliers  would  have  been 
the  death  of  freedom  in  England,  and  not  in  Eng- 
land alone.  I  remember  the  Broad-moor  farmer  told 
me  the  fork  on  which  he  leaned  was  of  American 
make,  and  I  believe  the  grass  had  been  mowed  by  an 
American  machine.  America  has  reaped  another 
harvest  from  the  field  of  Naseby.  Of  the  slain  at 
Naseby  it  may  be  truly  said :  "  They  died  that  gov- 
ernment of  the  People,  by  the  People,  and  for  the 
People  might  not  perish  from  the  earth."  From  a 
distant  hill  I  caught  a  last  glance  of  the  Naseby  spire 
rising  above  the  dust  of  the  dead  fighters.  Naseby 
the  centre  of  England  !  In  the  whole  history  of  the 
English-speaking  race,  few  events  are  more  central 
than  Naseby  battle ! 


CHAPTER   XII. 

THE   RISE    OF   THE    INDEPENDENTS. 

AFTER  Naseby  it  was  short  work  for  the  New 
Model  to  beat  down  the  opposition  of  the  King. 
He  tried  to  make  head  against  his  adverse  fate,  rally- 
ing his  beaten  forces,  intriguing  for  reinforcements 
of  Papists  from  Ireland,  and  Catholic  mercenaries 
from  the  continent,  and  striving  hard  to  join  hands 
with  Montrose  in  Scotland,  who  by  the  brilliant  vic- 
tory at  Kilsyth  seemed  to  have  subdued  the  Low- 
lands as  he  had  before  done  the  Highlands.  The 
King's  luck,  however,  had  gone.  The  reading  of  his 
letters  captured  at  Naseby,  to  the  London  citizens 
at  Guildhall,  made  plain  to  the  nation  his  perfidy, 
farther  proof  of  which  appeared  as  the  fall  advanced. 
David  Leslie,  the  best  soldier  of  the  Covenanters, 
hurrying  northward-  with  the  Scottish  horse,  on  Sep- 
tember 1 3th,  caught  napping  the  lithe  panther  him- 
self; Montrose  was  annihilated  at  Philiphaugh.  One 
by  one  the  scattered  Royalist  bands  were  tracked 
and  beaten,  and  on  March  22,  1646,  the  last  tough 
remnant  that  still  held  out  was  broken  to  pieces.  It 
was  a  band  under  the  stiff  old  trooper  Sir  Jacob 
Astley,  the  same  who  made  the  naive  prayer  at 
Edgehill,  and  so  nearly  brought  Skippon  to  grief  at 
Naseby.  Says  an  old  account :  "  Sir  Jacob  Astley, 


1645-1         THE  RISE  OF  THE  INDEPENDENTS.          255 

being  taken  captive  and  wearied  in  the  fight,  and  be- 
ing antient  (for  old  age's  silvery  hairs  had  quite  cov- 
ered over  his  head  and  beard)  the  soldiers  brought 
him  a  drum  to  sit  and  rest  himself  upon ;  who,  being 
seated,  he  said  (as  I  was  most  credibly  informed) 
unto  our  soldiers :  '  Gentlemen,  ye  may  now  sit  down 
and  play,  for  you  have  done  all  your  work,  if  you  fall 
not  out  among  yourselves.'  "  * 

But  what  all  this  time  of  American  ideas  ?  The 
story  we  are  trying  to  follow  has  but  a  far  away  in- 
terest for  us  except  as  it  can  be  made  clear  that 
these  strivers  were  brothers  of  our  own.  We  have 
traced  the  coming  up  of  the  Independents :  their 
own  generation  believed  that  they  drew  their  origin 
from  America ;  as  has  been  seen  the  idea  is  not 
without  reason.  Roger  Williams,  in  close  commun- 
ion with  Vane,  scheming  through  the  cold  winter  of 
1643-4  to  help  the  London  poor  to  fuel  in  the  dearth 
which  the  war  had  caused,  thinking  out  and  publish- 
ing the  "  Bloudy  Tenent,"  had  gone  back  to  his 
forest  home  on  Narragansett  Bay.  We  have  seen 
what  downright  blows  the  Independents  had  for 
Rupert  and  old  Sir  Jacob;  how  cleverly  they  man- 
aged to  set  aside  the  respectable  but  slow-going  mil- 
itary chiefs  who  desired  to  have  the  cannon  roar 
with  something  of  the  softness  of  the  sucking  dove, 
that  no  very  serious  harm  might  be  done  to  their 
friends,  just  now  unhappily  estranged  but  next  year 
probably  to  be  reconciled.  For  the  time  being  now 
all  was  in  Independent  hands,  and  elections  being 

1  Old  Parliamentary  History ',  under  date. 


256  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1645. 

ordered  to  fill  the  places  in  Parliament  made  vacant 
by  those  who  had  gone  over  to  the  King,  in  the 
course  of  a  few  months  two  hundred  and  thirty-five 
new  members,  "  Recruiters "  they  were  called,  ap- 
peared at  Westminster,  a  large  part  of  whom  were 
Independents.  It  was  especially  fortunate  for  these, 
that  among  the  "  Recruiters "  came  the  vigorous 
soldiers  who  had  cut  their  way  to  fame,  Fairfax, 
Skippon,  Ireton,  Ludlow,  Blake,  noted  now  for  the 
brave  defence  of  Taunton  and  whom  we  shall  know 
well  hereafter,  Algernon  Sidney,  the  pure-minded 
Colonel  Hutchinson  whose  "  Memoirs  "  by  his  wife  is 
such  a  well-known  book,  a  high-hearted  hero  named 
Thomas  Scott,  and  Fleetwood,  a  future  son-in-law  of 
Cromwell.  One  hears  little  henceforth  of  the  Self 
Denying  Ordinance.  The  idea  of  taking  Oliver 
from  the  head  of  the  Ironsides  was  not  to  be  thought 
of.  The  measure  had  served  its  purpose,  and  in  the 
quiet  to  which  all  now  looked  forward,  it  was  al- 
lowed to  pass  that  spurred  and  sworded  men  dis- 
mounted from  their  war-horses  to  sit  on  the  benches 
at  St.  Stephens. 

Still  the  Presbyterians  were  by  no  means  prostrate : 
though  disconcerted  at  the  prosperity  of  the  secta- 
ries, Denzil  Holies,  Glyn,  Maynard,  Stapleton,  and 
many  another,  with  the  Scotch  Commissioners, 
blocked  as  they  could  the  innovating  spirit,  and  ever 
and  again,  as  the  balance  shifted  in  the  uncertain 
times,  came  uppermost.  Most  picturesque  and  bitter 
among  these  anti-tolerationists  was  William  Prynne, 

"  That  grand  scripturient  paper-spiller, 
That  endless,  needless  margin-filler, 
So  strangely  tossed  from  post  to  pillar," 


I645-]  THE  RISE  OF  THE  INDEPENDENTS. 

whom  the  reader  will  find  most  graphically  hit  off  by 
Masson.1  For  his  contumacy,  he  had  been  under 
Laud  shockingly  mutilated  on  the  pillory,  and  he  was 
worn  with  imprisonment.  There  was  something  pre- 
ternatural in  his  vitality  and  industry  —  "a  ghoul-like 
creature  with  a  scarred  and  mutilated  face,  his  twice 
cropped  ears  hidden  under  a  woolen  cowl  or  night-cap, 
lonely  among  his  books  and  papers  at  Lincoln's  Inn, 
having  no  regular  meals,  but  now  and  then  munch- 
ing bread  and  taking  ale."  He  had  already  written 
fifty-five  books  and  pamphlets  toward  the  two  hun- 
dred "  that  were  to  form  the  long  ink-track  of  his 
total  life." 

Of  the  different  shades  of  belief  which  the  anti- 
tolerationists  had  now  to  combat,  Edwards, 2  one  of 
their  number,  enumerates  as  many  as  one  hundred 
and  seventy-six.  Nothing  could  be  wilder  than  some 
of  these  notions,  and  it  is  curious  to  see  how  much 
modern  speculation  was  anticipated  in  the  vagaries. 
Not  a  note  in  the  gamut  of  possible  beliefs  which 
some  harsh  exhorter  did  not  strike  !  They  possessed 
among  themselves  scarcely  any  common  ground  but 
liberty  of  conscience.  Among  these  sectaries,  the 
most  untamable  was  a  certain  John  Lilburne,  a  come- 
outer  so  utterly  pugnacious,  that,  as  Henry  Marten 
said,  "  if  only  John  Lilburne  were  left  in  the  world, 
then  John  would  quarrel  with  Lilburne  and  Lilburne 
with  John."  Desperately  honest  and  earnest,  utterly 
impracticable,  heroically  intrepid,  obstinate  to  the 
last  degree,  his  almost  unceasing  vociferations  through 

1  Life  of  Milton,  iii.  140. 

8  Gangraena,  Thomasson  Tracts,  ccxlvii. 


258  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1645. 

the  whole  time  of  the  Civil  War  are  discord  thrice 
over  among  all  the  discord.  When  scarcely  more 
than  a  boy  he  had  been  whipped  at  the  cart's  tail,  by 
command  of  the  Star  Chamber,  then  pilloried.  While 
on  the  pillory  he  had  harangued  and  distributed 
tracts  until  gagged  and  bound ;  then  he  stamped  with 
his  feet.  His  brother  became  later  one  of  Cromwell's 
famous  officers :  still  another  brother  had  died  on  the 
field  among  the  Ironsides :  John  himself  had  fought 
his  way  up  to  be  lieutenant-colonel  of  dragoons  at 
Marston  Moor,  where  he  was  very  brave.  Cromwell 
urged  him  to  take  a  command  in  the  New  Model, 
but  he  preferred  a  position  outside  of  everything,  a 
sleepless,  implacable  fanatic;  We  shall  see  him  as 
contumacious  before  Cromwell  as  he  had  been  before 
Laud. 

Doubtless  the  Independents  had  many  misgiv- 
ings, as  this  multitude  of  discordant  fancies,  some- 
times so  uncouth  and  repulsive,  came  floating  up  to 
the  surface  of  the  disturbed  time,  as  Toleration  be- 
gan to  have  sway.  How  could  society  exist,  if  such 
an  Antinomian  menagerie  were  allowed  to  bellow 
and  cavort  according  to  its  own  wild  will  ?  Doubt- 
less they  took  anxious  council  together  at  the  house 
of  Vane  in  Charing  Cross,  the  meeting-place  of  the 
wiser  men  among  these  free  souls,  and  it  is  impos- 
sible not  to  believe  that  the  gentle-spirited,  heroic 
apostle  from  New  England  had  not  laid  before  them 
that  solution  of  the  embarrassment  which  he  after- 
wards gave  in  the  beautiful  letter  to  his  own  town  of 
Providence.  "  There  goes  many  a  ship  to  sea,  with 
many  hundred  souls  in  one  ship,  whose  weal  and 


1 645-]         THE  RISE   OF  THE  INDEPENDENTS.  259 

woe  is  common,  and  is  a  true  picture  of  a  common- 
wealth or  a  human  combination  and  society.  It  hath 
fallen  out  sometimes  that  both  Papists  and  Protes- 
tants, Jews  and  Turks,  may  be  embarked  in  one  ship; 
upon  which  supposal  I  affirm,  that  all  the  liberty  of 
conscience  that  ever  I  pleaded  for,  turns  upon  these 
two  hinges  —  that  none  of  the  Papists,  Protestants, 
Jews,  or  Turks,  be  forced  to  come  to  the  ship's  pray- 
ers or  worship,  nor  compelled  from  their  own  partic- 
ular prayers  or  worship,  if  they  practice  any.  I 
further  add  that  I  never  denied  that  notwithstanding 
this  .liberty,  the  commander  of  this  ship  ought  to 
command  the  ship's  course ;  yea,  and  also  command 
that  justice,  peace,  and  sobriety,  be  kept  and  prac- 
tised, both  among  the  seamen  and  all  the  passengers. 
If  any  of  the  seamen  refuse  to  perform  their  services, 
or  passengers  to  pay  their  freight ;  if  any  refuse  to 
help,  in  person  or  purse,  towards  the  common 
charges  or  defence  ;  if  any  refuse  to  obey  the  com- 
mon laws  and  orders  of  the  ship,  concerning  their 
common  peace  or  preservation  ;  if  any  shall  mutiny 
and  rise  up  against  their  commanders  and  officers ; 
if  any  should  preach  or  write  that  there  ought  to  be 
no  commanders  or  officers,  because  all  are  equal  in 
Christ,  therefore  no  masters  nor  officers,  no  laws  nor 
orders,  nor  corrections,  nor  punishments  ;  —  I  say, 
I  never  denied,  but  in  such  cases,  whatever  is  pre- 
tended, the  commander  or  commanders  may  judge, 
resist,  compel,  and  punish  such  transgressors  accord- 
ing to  their  deserts  and  merits.  This,  if  seriously 
and  honestly  minded,  may,  if  it  so  please  the  Father 
of  Lights,  let  in  some  light  to  such  as  willingly  shut 


260  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1645. 

not  their  eyes.  I  remain,  studious  of  your  common 
peace  and  liberty,  Roger  Williams."  1  Though  crop- 
eared  Prynne  and  his  party  battled,  the  air  was  now 
full  of  the  spirit  of  Toleration.  The  ancient  Puritan- 
ism felt  that  the  robe  which  should  be  seamless  was 
about  to  be  rent  into  a  thousand  fragments,  each 
little  knot  of  sectaries  to  set  up  who  could  tell  what 
soul-killing  extravagances  of  creed. 

If  Independency  was  an  American  idea,  side  by 
side  with  it  we  now  begin  to  observe  others,  as  char- 
acteristically American.  While  Charles  after  Naseby, 
the  weapons  struck  from  his  hands,  sought  to  play 
a  shrewd  game  between  the  two  parties  into  which 
his  opponents  had  become  split,  paltering  with  each 
in  a  double  sense,  now  professing  friendship  for  one, 
now  for  the  other,  and  at  the  same  time  intriguing 
east  and  west  for  new  means  and  new  forces  to  make 
head  against  them  both,  the  rank  and  file  of  those 
extraordinary  Ironsides  were  beginning  to  ask  : 
"  Why  dally  with  this  King  ?  Why  have  a  King  at 
all,  unless  some  one  by  election  ?  Why  have  an  es- 
tablished church  ?  We  have  determined  to  let  each 
conscience  choose  a  faith  for  itself.  Why  tolerate 
the  privileged  class  of  nobles  ?  Let  each  man 
stand  according  to  his  own  deserts.  What  but  this 
is  the  true  polity,  —  an  assembly  made  up  of  repre- 
sentatives chosen  by  the  untrammelled  votes  of  all 
the  reputable  men  of  the  land,  —  government  of  the 
People,  by  the  People,  for  the  People  ?  " 

Not  yet  was  there  any  public  expression  of  such 

1  To  the  Town  of  Providence,  Jan.,  1655.    Narragansett  Club  Pub- 
lic., vii.  278,  etc. 


1 645.]         THE  RISE   OF  THE  INDEPENDENTS.          26 1 

extreme  ideas,  but  in  their  camps,  as  rumors  came 
now  of  their  being  sent  to  unwelcome  service  in  Ire- 
land, now  of  disbandment  without  satisfactory  assur- 
ance that  a  suitable  accommodation  could  be  made, 
now  of  the  unlikelihood  of  receiving  arrears  of  pay, 
there  was  much  serious  talk  among  those  grave  men. 
Sitting  on  drums  by  camp-fires  in  the  cool  fall 
nights,  binding  up  the  cuts  from  the  swords  of  the 
men  of  Rupert  and  Sir  Marmaduke,  giving  rest  to 
feet  blistered  in  marching  after  Hopton  and  Sir 
Jacob  Astley,  —  in  the  respite  from  arms  there  was 
leisure  for  counsel,  and  what  the  outcome  was  to  be 
was  ere  long  revealed. 

Our  garrulous  friend  Baillie  before  Naseby  is  full 
of  depreciation  of  the  New  Model,  and  just  after  by 
no  means  in  a  happy  frame  of  mind.  June  17,  "I 
have  myself  been  much  fashed  in  my  own  mind." 
He  has  said  something  about  a  tampering  with  the 
King  by  the  Independents,  and,  "  some  of  the  Inde- 
pendents hearing  of  it  presently  complain  to  the 
Committee  of  Both  Kingdoms.  Harry  Vane  and 
the  Solicitor  exaggerate  the  matter  and  report  it  to 
the  House  of  Commons."  News  from  Naseby  hav- 
ing arrived,  "  we  hope  the  back  of  the  Malignant 
party  is  broken.  Some  fear  the  insolency  of  others, 
to  whom  alone  the  Lord  has  given  the  victory  of  that 
day,  .  .  .  the  Independent  party,  albeit  their  number 
in  Parliament  be  very  small,  yet  being  prime  men, 
active  and  diligent,  and  making  it  their  great  work 
to  retard  all  till  they  be  first  secured  of  a  toleration 
of  their  separate  congregations,  etc."1  Still  later, 

1  Letters,  ii.  pp.  no,  117,  183. 


262  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE,  [1645. 

when  Baillie  has  returned  to  Edinburgh,1  he  de- 
scribes the  high  and  bold  design  of  the  sectaries, 
which  they  follow  drawn  on  by  the  course  of  affairs 
and  the  light  heads  of  their  leaders.  "  Vane  and 
Cromwell,  as  I  take  it,  are  of  nimble  hot  fancies  for 
to  put  all  in  confusion,  but  not  of  any  deep  reach. 
St.  John  and  Pierpont  are  more  stayed,  but  not  great 
heads.  Say  and  his  son2  albeit  wiser,  yet  of  so  dull, 
sour,  and  fearful  temperament,  that  no  great  achieve- 
ment in  reason  could  be  expected  of  them.  The 
rest,  either  in  the  Army  or  Parliament,  are  not  on 
their  mysteries,  and  of  no  great  parts,  either  for 
counsel  or  action  so  far  as  I  could  ever  observe." 
These  fellows,  however,  continues  Baillie,  are  "  abso- 
lute masters  of  all." 

How  much  was  won  by  boldness  and  how  much 
by  indirection  in  these  days,  it  is  impossible  to  say. 
Baxter  declares 3  that  "  Vane  and  Cromwell  used  the 
Army  to  model  the  Parliament,"  and  with  deep  cun- 
ning stirred  up  the  House  to  pass  offensive  votes, 
that  the  Army  might  become  enraged.  Such  evi- 
dence counts  for  little,  but  that  the  Independents 
could  be  very  devious,  their  best  friends  are  forced 
to  admit.  In  November,  a  curious  episode  of  the 
session  was  the  creation  of  Peers,  four  Dukes,  two 
Marquises,  five  Earls,  four  Barons,  and  one  Viscount, 
—  creations  which  the  King  was  to  confirm,  in  case 
peace  was  made.  Among  the  Barons  was  old  Sir 
Harry  Vane.  The  Independents,  thinks  Godwin,4 

1  11.258-9.  Parliamentarian,  known  as  "Young 

2  Nathaniel  Fiennes,  a   failure  Subtlety." 
as  a  soldier,  witness  his  surrender  8  Life,  54. 
of  Bristol,  in  1643,  but  a  shrewd  *  ii.  87,  etc. 


1 645.]         THE  RISE   OF  THE  INDEPENDENTS,          263 

certainly  managed  this,  and  what  can  have  been  the 
motive  ?  The  great  majority  of  those  thus  honored 
were  Presbyterians,  only  five  being  from  their  own 
party.  Was  it  a  trap  for  their  adversaries  ?  "  There 
was  a  great  deal  of  deep  and  indirect  policy  in  the 
Independent  leaders,"  and  Godwin  conjectures  that 
the  design  was  to  throw  discord  into  the  camp  of  the 
opposition  by  raising  some  above  others.  Those 
not  honored  would  be  jealous  of  those  who  were. 
A  few  names  from  their  own  number  were  in- 
cluded that  the  other  side  might  be  blinded.  One 
can  only  speculate  upon  what  was  intended  by  this 
strange  move  at  this  time  on  the  part  of  these  men 
who  in  a  very  short  space  were  to  stand  forth  as 
the  opponents  of  all  privilege.  Peace  with  Charles 
never  came,  so  the  creations  could  never  be  con- 
firmed. 

With  the  King  it  was  fox  against  fox.  Too  crip- 
pled to  fight,  while  he  intrigued  abroad  and  in  Ire- 
land, he  approached  also  the  Presbyterians ;  and 
while  he  dealt  with  them,  he  sought,  as  he  had  done 
when  his  affairs  were  less  desperate,  to  touch  hands, 
through  Vane,  with  the  Independents.  Two  letters 
are  preserved  written  to  Vane  by  order  of  Charles.1 

SIR  EDWARD  NICHOLAS  TO  SIR  HENRY  VANE  THE  YOUNGER. 

"  You  cannot  suppose  the  work  is  donn,  though 
God  should  suffer  you  to  destroy  the  K :  the  mis- 
eryes  which  will  inevitably  follow  are  soe  plaine  in 
view,  that  it  is  more  than  necessary  some  speedy 

1  Evelytfs  Memoirs,  Bray's  ed.  v.  p.  158.     Clarendon,  State  Papers^ 
ii.  226,  227. 


264  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1646. 

expedient  be  found  for  their  prevention."  He  thinks 
Spain  and  France  will  combine  against  England. 
"  The  only  remedye  is  ...  that  the  K.  may  come  to 
London  upon  the  termes  he  hath  offered ;  where  if 
Presbytery  shall  be  soe  strongly  insisted  upon  as  that 
there  can  be  noe  peace  without  itt,  you  shall  certainly 
have  all  the  power  my  master  cann  make  to  joyne 
with  you  in  rooting  out  of  this  kingdome  that  tyran- 
nicall  government ;  with  this  condition,  that  my  mas- 
ter may  not  have  his  conscience  disturbed  (yours  be- 
ing free)  when  that  easy  work  is  finished.  .  .  .  Waigh 
it  sadly."  [At  bottom]  "  This  a  trew  Coppie  of  what 
was  sent  to  Sir  Hen.  Vane  the  Younger  by  my  com- 
and.  C.  R.  Mar.  2,  1646." 

A  second  letter  enforces  the  first,  the  King  in  his 
earnestness  speaking  for  himself. 

"  By  all  that  is  good,  I  conjure  you  to  dispatch  that 
curtoysye  for  me  with  all  speed  or  it  will  be  too  late, 
I  shall  perish  before  I  receive  the  fruits  of  it.  I  may 
not  tell  you  my  necessities,  but  if  it  were  necessary 
soe  to  doe,  I  am  sure  you  would  lay  all  other  consid- 
erations aside,  and  fulfill  my  desires."  [At  bottom] 
"  This  a  true  Copie  of  what  was  sent  by  Jack  Ashe- 
burnham  and  my  comand,  to  Sir  Henry  Vane  the 
Younger.  C.  R."  [undated.] 

"  Gentlemen,  you  have  done  your  work  and  may 
now  go  play,  unless  you  fall  out  among  yourselves." 
Astley,  sitting  on  the  drum,  chatting  good-naturedly 
with  the  Roundheads  who  had  just  made  him  pris- 


1646.]        THE  RISE  OF  THE  INDEPENDENTS.  265 

oner,  as  he  wiped  the  sweat  of  the  battle  from  his 
face,  his  white  head,  unhelmeted,  receiving  the  cool 
breeze,  had  struck  right  at  the  weakness  of  his  ene- 
mies. More  and  more  they  were  falling  out  among 
themselves,  and  Charles,  finding  the  sword  utterly 
beaten  from  his  hands,  trusting  so  to  his  shrewdness, 
and  yet  always  overreaching  himself  instead  of  his 
enemies,  concluded  to  put  himself  into  their  hands, 
believing  he  could  play  among  them,  as  a  prisoner,  a 
cunning  game  for  his  own  advantage.  He  forsook 
Oxford  April  27,  so  often  gay  even  in  the  war-time 
with  Cavalier  riot,  and  in  a  few  days  came  riding  into 
the  ranks  of  the  grim  Scotch  Covenanters,  as  they  lay 
on  their  arms  in  the  North.  He  brought  to  bear 
upon  them  the  personal  charm  he  could  always  ex- 
ercise, —  was  affable  with  old  Leven,  and  discussed 
gravely  and  ably  with  Henderson  the  questions  of 
the  Church.  The  Scots  besought  him  to  sign,  or 
at  least  to  acknowledge  the  Covenant,  without  which 
they  could  not  admit  him  beyond  the  border.  But 
he  was  faithful  to  his  Anglicanism ;  though  they 
were  embarrassed,  he  felt  easy  in  his  situation.  In 
the  eyes  of  all  parties  a  glamour  surrounded  him,  as 
he  knew;  and  evenly  balanced  as  they  were,  he  felt 
sure  that  by  casting  his  weight  at  the  proper  time 
with  one,  that  must  straightway  become  paramount, 
bringing  him  at  the  same  time  happily  to  enjoy  his 
own  again. 

The  Scots  could  do  nothing  with  him.  There  was 
no  reason  why  they  should  stay  longer  in  England. 
Skippon  with  a  strong  detachment  conducted  to 
their  camp  a  convoy  of  thirty-six  creaking  wagons, 


266  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1647. 

containing  a  million  dollars,  half  of  the  subsidy  in 
cash  which  was  due  them,  and  they  joyfully  marched 
home,  January,  1647,  with  pockets  jingling  in  a  man- 
ner rare  enough  to  Scotchmen  of  those  days.  The 
King  was  surrendered  to  Parliament,  and  all  now 
looking  toward  peace,  the  Presbyterians  were  upper- 
most, discredit  falling  upon  the  Army  and  its  favor- 
ers. Many  of  the  Recruiters,  who  at  first  had  acted 
with  the  Independents,  inclined  now  to  their  oppo- 
nents. The  Presbyterians,  feeling  that  none  would 
dare  to  question  the  authority  of  Parliament,  pushed 
energetically  their  policy  as  regards  the  Army,  of 
sending  to  Ireland,  disbanding,  neglecting  the  pay- 
ment of  arrears,  and  displacing  the  old  officers.  But 
suddenly  there  came  for  them  a  rude  awakening.  On 
April  30,  1647,  Skippon,  whom  all  liked,  whom  the 
Presbyterians  indeed  claimed,  but  who  at  the  same 
time  kept  on  good  terms  with  the  Army  and  Inde- 
pendents, rose  in  his  place  in  St.  Stephens  and  pro- 
duced a  letter,  brought  to  him  the  day  before  by 
three  private  soldiers,  in  which  eight  regiments  of 
horse  expressly  refused  to  serve  in  Ireland,  declaring 
that  it  was  a  perfidious  design  to  separate  the  sol- 
diers from  the  officers  whom  they  loved,  —  framed  by 
men  who,  having  tasted  of  power,  were  degenerat- 
ing into  tyrants.  Holies  and  the  Presbyterians  were 
thunder-struck,  and  laying  aside  all  other  business 
summoned  the  three  soldiers  to  appear  at  once. 
They  came  without  delay  and  without  fear,  giving 
their  names  as  Edward  Sexby,  William  Allen,  and 
Thomas  Sheppard.  "  Where  was  this  letter  got 
up  ?  "  inquired  the  Speaker.  "  At  a  meeting  of  the 


1 647.]          THE  RISE  OF  THE  INDEPENDENTS.         267 

regiments."  "  Who  wrote  it  ?  "  "  A  council  of  del- 
egates appointed  by  each  regiment."  "  Did  your  offi- 
cers approve  of  it  ?  "  "  Very  few  of  them  knew  any- 
thing about  it."  "  Do  you  know  that  none  but  Roy- 
alists could  have  suggested  such  a  proceeding  ?  You 
yourselves,  were  you  ever  Cavaliers  ? "  "  We  entered 
the  service  of  Parliament  before  the  battle  of  Edge- 
hill,  and  have  remained  in  it  ever  since."  One  of  the 
three  stepped  forward  :  "  I  received  once  five  wounds ; 
I  had  fallen ;  Major-General  Skippon  saw  me  on  the 
ground,  and  gave  me  five  shillings  to  get  relief.  He 
can  contradict  me  if  I  lie."  "  It  is  true,"  said  Skip- 
pon, looking  with  interest  at  the  soldier.  "  We  are 
only  the  agents  of  our  regiments :  if  the  House  will 
give  us  its  questions  in  writing,  we  will  take  them  to 
the  regiments  and  bring  back  the  answers." l 

A  violent  tumult  arose  in  the  House.  The  Pres- 
byterians declared  that  the  three  sturdy  Ironsides 
standing  there,  with  their  buff  stained  from  their 
corselets,  ought  to  be  at  once  committed  ;  to  which  it 
was  answered,  that  if  there  were  to  be  commitment, 
it  should  be  to  the  best  London  tavern,  and  sack  and 
sugar  provided.  Cromwell,  leaning  over  toward  Lud- 
low,  who  sat  next  to  him,  and  pointing  to  the  Pres- 
byterians, said  that  those  fellows  would  never  leave 
till  the  Army  pulled  them  out  by  the  ears.  That 
day  it  became  known  that  there  existed  an  organiza- 
tion, a  sort  of  Parliament,  in  the  Army,  the  officers 
forming  an  upper  council  and  the  representatives  of 
the  rank  and  file  a  lower  council.  Two  such  repre- 
sentatives stood  in  the  lower  council  for  each  squad- 

1  Rushworth,  vi.  474.     Parliamentary  History,  under  date. 


268  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1647. 

ron  or  troop,  known  as  "  Adjutators,"  aiders,  or  "  Agi- 
tators." This  organization  had  taken  upon  itself  to 
see  that  the  Army  had  its  rights.  Far  above  every 
limited  or  selfish  motive,  moreover,  it  proposed  to  see 
that  the  upheaval  should  not  have  been  in  vain,  but 
that  England,  in  religion  and  politics,  should  gain  a 
noble  freedom. 

At  the  end  of  a  month,  there  was  still  greater  occa- 
sion for  astonishment.  Seven  hundred  horse  sud- 
denly left  the  camp,  and  appearing  without  warning, 
June  2,  at  Holmby  House,  where  Charles  was  kept, 
in  charge  of  Parliamentary  commissioners,  proposed 
to  assume  the  custody  of  the  King.  A  cool,  quiet 
fellow,  of  rank  no  higher  than  that  of  cornet,  led 
them  and  was  their  spokesman,  Joyce.  "  What  is 
your  authority  ?  "  asked  the  King.  The  cornet  simply 
pointed  to  the  mass  of  troopers  at  his  back.  The 
King  no  doubt  remembered  that  he  had  seen  those 
stern  ranks  before,  and  in  that  same  neighborhood, 
for  over  a  few  intervening  ridges  lay  the  hamlet  of 
Naseby.  The  Parliamentary  guard  fraternized  with 
the  new-comers;  the  King  made  little  objection.  He 
rode  off,  indeed,  in  good  spirits,  with  his  new  guard 
to  the  Army  headquarters,  telling  Joyce  laughingly 
that  he  deserved  to  be  hanged,  but  letting  him  know 
very  plainly  that  he  had  taken  a  fancy  to  him. 
Charles,  in  fact,  was  weary  of  the  Presbyterians,  and 
glad  to  try  his  fortune  among  the  Independents.  He 
had  no  reason  to  complain  of  want  of  respect  from 
the  Army  men.  The  chiefs  disclaimed  Joyce's  seiz- 
ure :  Fairfax,  dismounting,  kissed  his  hand,  and  Crom- 
well and  Ireton  appeared  before  him  hat  in  hand. 


1 647.]          THE  RISE   OF  THE  INDEPENDENT.  269 

He  was  soon  installed  in  his  old  palace  of  Hampton 
Court,  and  although  the  very  trustiest  of  the  Iron- 
sides, under  Whalley,  kept  him  under  surveillance,  his 
old  friends  were  freely  admitted  to  him,  and  he  had 
almost  the  state  of  a  real  Sovereign. 

So  bold  a  step  as  the  seizure  of  the  King  made 
necessary  other  bold  steps  on  the  part  of  the  Army. 
Scarcely  a  fortnight  had  passed,  when  a  demand  was 
made  for  the  exclusion  from  Parliament  of  eleven 
Presbyterians,  the  men  most  conspicuous  for  extreme 
views.  The  Army  meanwhile  hovered,  ever  omi- 
nously, close  at  hand  to  the  north  and  east  of  the 
city,  paying  slight  regard  to  the  Parliamentary  prohi- 
bition to  remain  at  a  distance.  The  eleven  members 
withdrew,  and  as  an  indication  that  the  balance  is 
now  inclining  to  the  Independents  again,  the  name 
of  Vane  is  at  once  found  on  a  list  of  commissioners 
sent  out  to  confer  with  the  Army  chiefs. 

But  if  Parliament  was  willing  to  yield,  Presbyterian 
London  and  the  country  round  about  were  not,  and 
in  July  broke  out  into  sheer  rebellion  ;  apprentices, 
water-men,  train-bands,  people  high  and  low,  crowd- 
ing round  the  houses  in  Palace  Yard  by  thousands, 
swarming  in  the  corridors,  showing  displeasure  by 
casting  stones,  kicking  at  the  doors,  and  bursting  in 
upon  the  sessions  with  their  hats  on.  The  more  fa- 
natical Presbyterians  thought  of  a  new  civil  war  at 
once,  and  projected  the  raising  of  a  new  army,  which, 
with  the  help  of  London,  might  make  head  against 
the  army  of  Fairfax  and  Cromwell.  But  the  best 
wisdom  and  resolution  were  elsewhere.  The  Speak- 
ers of  the  Lords  and  Commons,  at  the  head  of  the 


270  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1647. 

strength  of  the  Parliament,  fourteen  Peers  and  one 
hundred  Commoners,  betook  themselves  to  Fairfax, 
and  on  August  2  they  threw  themselves  into  the 
protection  of  the  Army  at  Hounsiow  Heath,  ten 
miles  distant.  A  grand  review  took  place.  The  con- 
summate soldier,  Fairfax,  had  his  troops  in  perfect 
condition,  and  they  were  drawn  out  twenty  thousand 
strong  to  receive  the  seceding  Parliament.  The  sol- 
diers rent  the  air  with  shouts  in  their  behalf,  and  all 
was  made  ready  for  a  most  impressive  demonstration. 
On  the  6th  of  August,  Fairfax  marched  his  troops  in 
full  array  through  the  city,  from  Hammersmith  to 
Westminster.  Each  man  had  in  his  hat  a  wreath  of 
laurel.  The  Lords  and  the  Commons  who  had  taken 
flight  were  escorted  in  the  midst  of  the  column ;  the 
city  officials  joined  the  train.  At  Westminster  the 
Speakers  were  ceremoniously  reinstalled,  and  the 
Houses  again  put  at  work,  the  first  business  being  to 
thank  the  General  and  the  veterans  who  had  recon- 
stituted them.  The  next  day,  with  Skippon  in  the 
centre  and  Cromwell  in  the  rear,  the  Army  marched 
through  the  city  itself,  a  heavy  tramp  of  battle-sea- 
soned platoons,  at  the  mere  sound  of  which  the  war- 
like ardor  of  the  turbulent  youths  of  the  workshops 
and  the  rough  watermen  was  completely  squelched. 
Yet  the  soldiers  looked  neither  to  the  right  nor  left ; 
nor  by  act,  word,  or  gesture  was  any  offence  given. 

Vane,  who,  as  the  Independents  were  recovering 
power,  was  again  in  the  foreground,  at  once  on 
August  6th,  after  the  Parliament  was  reconstituted, 
brought  before  the  House  a  form  for  an  agreement 
with  the  King,  at  which  a  glance  must  be  thrown. 


1 647.]         THE  RISE   OF  THE  INDEPENDENTS.  271 

It  was  known  as  the  Heads  of  Proposals,1  and  had 
been  borne  before  the  army  as  it  marched  through 
the  city.  It  was  Ireton's  work,  and  had  been  by  him 
laid  before  the  King,  a  document  memorable  as  a 
sincere  and  temperate  effort  at  an  agreement,  the 
last  effort  of  the  Independents  to  make  peace  with 
Charles,  There  were  to  be  biennial  Parliaments ;  the 
Parliament  was  to  control  the  militia  for  five  years, 
with  a  voice  in  subsequent  arrangements,  and  no  pub- 
lic trust  was  to  be  exercised  for  five  years  by  persons 
who  had  borne  arms  against  the  Parliament.  Omit- 
ting unessential  details,  as  regards  the  important  mat- 
ter of  an  ecclesiastical  arrangement,  it  was  left  free 
whether  Episcopacy  or  Presbyterianism  should  be 
established  ;  it  was  only  stipulated  that  in  any  case 
there  should  be  liberty  of  dissent ;  it  was  even  hinted 
that  Papists  and  Jesuits  might  be  left  to  themselves, 
except  in  so  far  as  they  should  conspire  against  the 
order  of  the  state.  Most  interesting  of  a'll,  perhaps, 
was  the  manner  in  which  the  Commons  were  to  be 
elected.  Representation  was  to  be  equalized,  all 
counties  to  have  a  number  of  members  proportioned 
to  the  taxes  they  paid  toward  the  burdens  of  the  king- 
dom. The  abuse  of  "  rotten  boroughs,"  the  admis- 
sion of  Burgesses,  namely,  for  decayed  or  insignificant 
places,  was  to  be  remedied,  and  the  number  of  mem- 
bers for  such  counties  as  had  fewer  than  their  proper 
proportion  was  to  be  increased.  The  King  was 
to  be  restored  to  safety,  honor,  and  freedom,  with  no 
limitation  of  his  royal  power  beyond  what  was 
properly  due  to  Parliament. 

1  Rush  worth,  vii.  731-736. 


2/2  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1647. 

If  Charles  had  accepted  the  proposals,  a  polity 
would  have  been  given  to  England  quite  similar  to 
that  which  has  existed  since  the  Reform  Bill  of  1832. 
A  reasonable  Sovereign,  one  thinks,  would  certainly 
now,  after  so  thorough  a  beating  in  the  field,  have 
receded  from  his  claims,  and  been  glad  to  accept  an 
accommodation  which  left  him  unimpaired  dignity. 
Cromwell,  Ireton,  and  Vane  had  hopes  that  the  King 
might  be  won.  Charles,  however,  spurned  the  prop- 
ositions, entertained  those  who  made  them  with 
bitter  discourses,  and  repeated  often  :  "  You  cannot 
do  without  me ;  you  will  fall  to  ruin  if  I  do  not  sus- 
tain you."  It  was  not  until  after  the  rejection  of 
these  overtures,  that  in  the  Commons  and  the  higher 
council  of  the  Army  Republicanism  became  pro- 
fessed, as  something  to  which  they  were  forced.  The 
proper  constitutional  balance  of  King,  Lords,  and 
Commons,  the  leaders  would  have  been  satisfied 
with  :  but  now  Vane,  Ludlow,  Haselrig,  Marten, 
Scatt,  Hutchinson,  Sidney,  scarcely  answered  when 
they  were  charged  with  wishing  to  do  away  with 
kingship.  They  were  coming  fast  to  speak  of  it  with 
contempt.  The  sovereignty  of  the  People,  speaking 
through  one  assembly,  was  rising  more  and  more 
within  their  thoughts,  as  the  end  toward  which  they 
must  tend. 

Cromwell  and  Ireton  persisted  long.  They  were  the 
real  Army  leaders,  for  Fairfax,  though  superb  in  the 
field,  plays  but  a  secondary  part  in  every  other  sphere. 
The  good  qualities  of  Charles  impressed  them  strongly. 
There  is  a  fine  picturesque  story  of  how  the  tears 
rolled  down  the  cheeks  of  Cromwell  at  the  sight  of 


I647-]         THE  RISE   OF  THE  INDEPENDENTS. 

the  meeting  at  Hampton  Court  between  the  captive 
Charles  and  his  children.  Why  could  not  bitter 
experience  teach  the  King  that  he  must  lay  aside  his 
arrogant  claims?  How  attractive  was  the  thought 
of  a  settlement  in  which,  since  there  was  to  be  little 
disturbance  of  the  old  order,  all  parties  might  be 
expected  soon  to  acquiesce,  and  in  which  the  King, 
as  a  duly  limited  Sovereign,  might  clothe  his  position 
with  the  graces  and  virtues  which  he  was  really  so 
capable  of  showing !  All  the  courtesy,  all  the  ten- 
derness, were  unavailing,  and  while  the  leaders  la- 
bored, the  rank  and  file  grew  more  and  more  revolu- 
tionary. At  length  the  position  of  the  chiefs  became 
one  of  the  greatest  danger.  The  regiments  mutinied 
against  them,  as  treacherous  to  the  Army  and  com- 
mitted to  the  King.  It  required  all  the  tact  and 
boldness  of  Cromwell  to  crush  out  the  danger.  Rid- 
ing up  to  the  most  violent,  he  entered  1/heir  ranks, 
and  caused  fourteen  of  their  number  to  be  dragged 
forth.  Three  of  these  were  at  once  tried  for  their 
lives,  and  one  promptly  shot.  Discontent  was  re- 
pressed though  not  smothered,  but  just  here  the 
incurable  treachery  of  Charles  became  in  a  singular 
way  revealed.  The  leaders  forsook  him,  and  took 
sides  with  the  men.  The  picturesque  story  which 
follows  has  been  thought  mythical,  but  there  is  no 
good  reason  for  doubting  it. 

At  the  Blue  Boar  Inn,  in  Holborn,  when  the  lead- 
ers had  long  besought  the  King,  and  the  soldiers 
were  murmuring  heavily,  two  stout  troopers  in  buff, 
with  high  boots  and  hats  slouched  over  weather- 
beaten  faces,  strode  into  the  inner  court,  sat  down  in 


274  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1647. 

the  tap,  and  called  for  tankards.  So  they  remained 
through  the  evening,  the  London  boosers  about 
them  looking  with  some  interest  at  the  stalwart  fel- 
lows, who  plainly  had  had  a  part  on  the  great  fields 
of  the  war.  Toward  ten  o'clock,  a  courier,  about  de- 
parting for  Dover,  came  through  the  crowd  of  drink- 
ers with  the  saddle  on  his  head,  which  he  was  about 
to  strap  around  his  horse.  As  he  left  the  room,  the 
troopers  followed  him  into  the  darkness  of  the  court, 
seized  suddenly  the  saddle,  and,  declaring  that  they 
had  orders  to  search  everything,  ripped  it  open.  In  the 
lining  lay  a  letter ;  this  they  took,  giving  the  saddle 
then  to  the  frightened  messenger.  Patting  him  good- 
humoredly,  they  told  him  he  was  an  honest  fellow  to 
whom  they  meant  no  harm.  The  troopers  were  none 
other  than  Cromwell  and  Ireton  in  disguise,  who  hav- 
ing learned  that  the  King  that  night  would  dispatch 
a  letter  in  this  way  to  the  Queen,  disclosing  his  real 
intentions,  took  this  means  to  intercept  it.  "  When 
the  time  comes,"  wrote  the  King,  "  I  shall  very  well 
know  how  to  treat  these  rogues,  and  instead  of  a 
silken  garter  I  will  fit  them  with  a  hempen  halter." 1 

A  sudden  change  took  place  in  the  treatment  of 
the  King.  His  friends  had  been  allowed  to  flock  to 
him  without  restriction.  He  had  been  suffered  to 
visit  at  the  country-seats  in  the  neighborhood,  and 
except  that  there  was  never  far  off  some  stout  sentry, 
armed  and  watchful,  there  had  been  little  in  his  con- 

1  The  story   comes  from  Lord  But  see  Walford's  Antiquarian, 

Broghill,  afterwards   Earl   of  Or-  March  and  May,  1887,  for  a  dis- 

rery.  Mr.  S.  R.  Gardiner  expressed  cussion   of   its   probability,  which 

to  me  in  conversation  the  opinion  takes  an  unfavorable  view, 
that  this  tradition  may  be  admitted. 


I647-]          THE  RISE   OF  THE  INDEPENDENTS.          275 

dition  to  suggest  imprisonment.  A  strict  severity 
was  now  maintained,  and  the  King  formed  a  resolu- 
tion, which  possibly  the  Army  chiefs  for  a  deep  pur- 
pose of  their  own,  by  some  cunning  management, 
suggested  to  him.  On  a  dark  night  in  November, 
he  escaped,  struck  southward,  and  guiding  his  little 
party  himself  through  the  New  Forest,  which  he 
knew  well  through  his  hunter  experience,  he  reached 
at  length  the  coast,  and  crossed  to  the  Isle  of  Wight 
Here  he  was  to  remain  a  year,  not  leaving  it  until, 
in  the  fulness  of  time,  his  victorious  foes  should  con- 
duct him  to  his  trial  and  his  doom.  November 
though  it  was,  as  he  stood  in  the  streets  of  Newport, 
a  young  girl  gave  him  from  her  garden  a  beautiful 
crimson  rose.  The  air  was  soft  almost  as  summer, 
and  the  hearts  of  the  people  were  loyal  and  tender 
toward  him.  Moreover,  the  governor  of  the  island, 
young  Colonel  Hammond,  though  a  so/i-in-law  of 
Hampden  and  a  favorite  of  Cromwell,  and  though  at 
Naseby  he  had  stood  by  the  side  of  Pride,  marching 
forward  to  save  the  day  at  the  most  desperate  mo- 
ment, when  Skippon  was  wounded  and  the  centre 
was  giving  way,  was  at  the  same  time  the  nephew  of 
Dr.  Hammond,  the  King's  chaplain,  and  could  not 
stand  in  the  royal  presence  without  receiving  impres- 
sion. The  King's  home  was  at  beautiful  Carisbrook 
Castle,  in  the  midst  of  one  of  the  loveliest  of  English 
landscapes.  Here,  exercising  on  the  bowling-green, 
discussing  books,  religion,  philosophy,  with  congenial 
companionship,  according  to  the  superstition  which 
few  men  of  the  time  were  without,  and  which  influ- 
enced him  much,  dipping  into  astrology,  and  watching 


276  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1647. 

carefully  the  flickering  of  the  wax-taper,  always  burn- 
ing in  a  silver  basin  at  his  bedside,  he  spent  the 
days.  Though  outwardly  so  calm,  so  gracious,  so 
marked  with  traits  of  royal  majesty,  his  mind  was 
from  first  to  last  busy  with  intrigues,  quite  conscience- 
less as  to  what  oaths  he  might  break,  what  friends 
disappoint,  what  treachery  spin,  so  long  as  the  end 
could  be  furthered,  of  which  he  never  for  a  moment 
lost  sight,  the  regaining  of  a  sovereignty  whose  pre- 
rogatives should  be  utterly  without  trammel. 

His  first  days  in  the  Isle  of  Wight  were  marked 
by  an  intrigue  which  came  near  making  real  for  him 
all  his  hopes.  It  was  frustrated  only  by  the  aston- 
ishing energy  and  ability  of  the  men  with  whom  he 
had  to  cope,  and  being  frustrated,  there  was  nothing 
left  for  him  but  the  scaffold.  Parliament,  which  had 
again  become  reactionary,  sent  commissioners  to  the 
King  with  propositions  so  moderate  it  was  felt  he 
must  surely  accede.  At  the  same  time  commission- 
ers from  Scotland  came  to  Wight.  The  Parliament 
men  with  their  message  the  King  spurned.  With  the 
Scots,  however,  on  the  26th  of  December,  he  made  a 
secret  treaty.  He  bound  himself  on  the  word  of  a 
King  to  confirm  the  Covenant  for  such  as  had  taken 
it,  or  might  take  it ;  to  confirm  Presbyterian  Church 
government  in  England  for  three  years,  reserving  for 
himself  and  his  household  the  Anglican  Liturgy;  and 
to  suppress  the  Independents  and  all  other  sects  and 
heresies.  The  Scots  in  return  were  to  send  an  army 
into  England  to  restore  him,  on  these  conditions,  to 
the  throne.  Thus  at  length,  after  long  hesitation, 
came  a  decisive  step.  Charles  threw  his  weight  with 


1 647.]         THE  RISE  OF  THE  INDEPENDENTS.  277 

the  Presbyterians  and  the  Scots,  granting  all  they 
asked.  He  felt  certain,  however,  that  in  the  event  of 
success,  "  there  would  be  nobody  to  exact  all  these 
particulars,  but  everybody  would  submit  to  what  His 
Majesty  should  think  fit  to  be  done."1  The  treaty 
was  to  be  kept  secret  as  death.  It  was  wrapped  in 
lead,  and  buried  in  a  garden,  while  the  Scotch  com- 
missioners hurried  northward  to  prepare  for  war. 

The  strait  of  the  Independents  was  now  great  in- 
deed. They  were,  however,  coming  to  an  understand- 
ing one  with  another,  dressing  up  with  a  united  front, 
although  as  yet  they  knew  not  how  threatening  the 
foe  was  whom  they  must  presently  face.  When  the 
mutiny  of  the  Army  in  October  had  been  so  promptly 
subdued,  the  mutineers  had  worn  in  their  hats  a 
paper  which  had  been  drawn  up  and  printed  among 
the  Agitators,  the  lower  council  of  the  Army.  It  was 
called  the  "  Agreement  of  the  People :  "  a/:  this,  and 
at  another  manifesto  of  the  Army,  "  The  Case  of  the 
Whole  Army,"  it  is  now  time  for  us,  trying  as  we  are 
to  trace  American  ideas  in  this  great  upheaval,  to 
cast  a  glance.  It  was  not  unnatural,  perhaps,  that, 
seeing  their  Generals  on  such  intimate  terms  with  the 
King,  who  lived  in  splendor  while  the  world  did  hom- 
age to  him,  the  soldiers  should  have  suspected  them 
of  lukewarmness,  or  indeed  treachery,  as  regarded 
things  the  soldiers  felt  to  be  essential.  This  they 
express,  and  at  the  same  time  they  declare  to  their 
General  as  follows,  —  sentences  which  certainly  no 
American  can  read  without  wishing  to  press  those 
stubborn  Ironsides  to  his  heart  as  his  sworn  brethren : 
1  Clarendon,  v.  2219. 


2/8  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1647. 

"  We  presume  that  your  Excellency  will  not  think 
it  strange,  or  judge  us  disobedient  or  refractory,  that 
we  should  state  the  case  of  the  Army,  how  declined 
from  its  first  principles  of  safety,  what  mischiefs  are 
threatened  thereby,  and  what  remedies  are  suitable. 
For,  sir,  should  you,  yea,  should  the  whole  Parliament 
or  Kingdom  exempt  us  from  this  service,  or  should 
command  our  silence  and  forbearance,  yet  could  not 
they  nor  you  discharge  us  of  our  duty  to  God,  or  to 
our  own  natures.  ...  If  our  duty  bind  us  when  we 
see  our  neighbor's  houses  on  fire,  to  waive  all  forms, 
ceremonies,  or  complements  forthwith  (not  waiting 
for  order  or  leave)  to  attempt  the  quenching  thereof, 
without  farther  scruple  as  thereunto  called  of  God, 
.  .  .  then  much  more  are  we  obliged  and  called,  when 
we  behold  the  great  mansion-house  of  the  Common- 
wealth, and  of  this  Army,  on  fire  all  ready  to  be  de- 
voured with  slavery,  confusion,  and  ruin,  and  their 
national  native  freedom  (the  price  of  our  treasure  and 
blood)  wrested  out  of  their  hands,  as  at  this  present 
appeareth  to  our  best  understandings,  &C."1  This 
letter  was  dated  at  Hempstead,  October  15,  1647,  and 
signed  by  the  Agitators,  for  the  regiments  of  horse 
of  Cromwell,  Ireton,  Fleetwood,  Rich,  and  Whalley, 
—  the  core  of  the  Ironsides  !  Though  prolix,  it  con- 
tains no  cant  or  superstition.  Is  there  not,  indeed, 
much  beauty  and  pathos  here  ?  And  now  let  us 
see  what  is  recommended  in  a  paper  of  propo- 
sals, received  in  Parliament,  November  i,  from  the 
Army :  — 

1   From   the   letter   to    Fairfax,     Whole  Army."    Rushworth,  Hist. 
accompanying  "  The  Case  of  the     Coll.  vii.  846,  etc. 


1647.]        THE  RISE   OF  THE  INDEPENDENTS.  279 

"  Having  by  our  late  labors  and  hazards  made  it 
appear  to  the  world  at  how  high  a  rate  we  value  our 
just  freedom ;  and  God  having  so  far  owned  our  cause 
as  to  deliver  the  enemies  thereof  into  our  hands,  we 
do  now  hold  ourselves  bound  in  mutual  duty  to  each 
other,  to  take  the  best  care  we  can  for  the  future,  to 
avoid  both  the  danger  of  returning  into  a  slavish  con- 
dition, and  the  chargeable  remedy  of  another  war. 
.  .  .  That  hereafter  our  Representatives  [Parlia- 
ments] be  neither  left  to  an  uncertainty  for  the  time, 
nor  made  useless  to  the  ends  for  which  they  were  in- 
tended, we  declare,  i.  That  the  people  of  England 
being  at  this  day  very  unequally  distributed  by  coun- 
ties, cities,  and  boroughs,  for  elections  of  their  depu- 
ties in  Parliament,  ought  to  be  more  indifferently 
[impartially]  proportioned,  according  to  the  number 
of  inhabitants."  The  clause  goes  on  to  demand  the 
arrangement  of  this  before  the  end  of  the  present 
Parliament,  which,  in  the  2d  article,  the  soldiers  re- 
quest may  take  place  in  September,  1648,  tc»  prevent 
the  inconvenience  arising  from  the  long  continuance 
of  the  same  persons  in  authority.  After  providing 
in  the  3d  article  that  Parliament  shall  be  chosen  bi- 
ennially, every  second  March,  we  find  in  article  4 
a  most  significant  declaration  :  "  That  the  power  of 
this  and  all  future  Representatives  [Parliaments]  of 
this  nation  is  inferior  only  to  theirs  who  chuse  them, 
and  extends,  without  the  consent  of  any  other  person 
or  persons,  to  the  enacting,  altering,  and  repealing  of 
laws,  to  appointments  of  all  kinds,  to  'making  war 
and  peace,  to  treating  with  foreign  states,  &c  ; "  with 
the  following  limitations,  however:  "  i.  That  matter 


280  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1647. 

of  religion,  and  the  ways  of  God's  worship,  are  not 
at  all  intrusted  by  us  to  any  human  power,  because 
therein  we  cannot  admit  or  exceed  a  tittle  of  what 
our  consciences  dictate  to  be  the  mind  of  God,  with- 
out wilful  sin :  nevertheless,  the  public  way  of  in- 
structing the  nation,  so  it  be  not  compulsive,  is 
referred  to  their  discretion."  Other  limitations  are, 
that  there  shall  be  no  impressing  of  men  for  service, 
that  after  the  present  Parliament  no  one  is  to  be  ques- 
tioned for  anything  said  or  done  in  the  late  disturb- 
ances, that  laws  are  to  affect  all  alike,  and  to  be  equal 
and  good.  "  These  things  we  declare  to  be  our 
native  rights,"  the  document  concludes,  and  we  are 
compelled  to  maintain  them,  "  not  only  by  the  exam- 
ple of  our  ancestors,  whose  blood  was  often  spent  in 
vain  for  the  recovery  of  their  freedoms,  suffering  them- 
selves through  fraudulent  accommodations  to  be  still 
deluded  of  the  fruit  of  their  victory,  but  also  by  our 
own  woful  experience,  who,  having  long  expected  and 
dearly  earned  the  establishment  of  those  certain  rules 
of  government,  are  yet  made  to  depend  for  the  set- 
tlement of  our  peace  and  freedom,  upon  him  that 
intended  our  bondage  and  brought  a  cruel  war  upon 
us."  l 

This  manifesto  was  signed  by  nine  regiments  of 
horse  and  seven  of  foot. 

Bravo,  Ironsides !  The  completest  Republican- 
ism, thorough  government  of  the  people ;  the  finest 
spirit  of  toleration  and  charity !  Had  Roger  Wil- 
liams and  Samuel  Adams  put  their  heads  together; 
could  the  outcome  have  been  better  ?  "  The  power 

1  Rushworth,  vii.  859,  etc. 


1 647.]        THE  RISE  OF  THE  INDEPENDENTS.  281 

of  this  and  all  future  Parliaments  of  this  nation  is 
inferior  only  to  theirs  who  chuse  them,  and  extends, 
without  the  consent  of  any  other  person  or  persons, 
to  the  enacting,  altering,  and  repealing  of  laws,  to 
appointments  of  all  kinds,  to  making  war  and  peace, 
to  treating  with  foreign  states ; "  no  exception  to  be 
made  but  in  the  matter  of  religion,  —  that  to  be  in- 
trusted to  no  human  power,  but  each  man  to  choose 
as  his  conscience  may  dictate. 

Who  the  man  was  who  formulated  so  finely  these 
American  utterances  no  one  can  say.  They  came 
from  the  rank  and  file:  under  some  one  of  those 
steel  headpieces  worked  the  brain  that  outlined  this 
noble  polity,  in  which  there  was  no  place  for  King, 
Lord,  or  Prelate,  because  the  People  was  to  be  Sov- 
ereign. The  leaders  felt  uneasy.  Cromwell  could 
not  yet  go  so  far;  Ireton  now  rejected  it  with  indig- 
nation.1 At  a  meeting  convened  in  November  to 
establish  harmony  between  chiefs  and  soldiers,  when 
the  latter  rejected  a  statement  in  which  the  name 
and  essential  prerogatives  of  a  King  were  provided 
for,  Ireton  abruptly  departed,  declaring  that  such  a 
matter  must  not  be  touched  upon.  Vane,  too,  no 
doubt  at  this  time  was  appalled  at  such  extreme 
ideas.  Both  Court,  Presbytery,  and  Prelacy  were 
hateful,  but  Royalty  and  an  Upper  House  seemed  too 
potent  and  deeply  rooted  to  be  disturbed.  How  un- 
tried and  chimerical  the  scheme  of  a  Republic,  in 
which  all  precedents  were  to  be  disregar/ied  and  tra- 
dition to  be  sacrificed !  From  whom,  too,  did  the 
ideas  emanate  ?  From  men  of  no  social  importance, 

1  Godwin,  ii.  451. 


282 


YOUNG   SIR  HENRY   VANE. 


[1647. 


from  Levellers,  fanatical,  haughtily  insubordinate, 
discountenanced  by  every  class  in  society  hitherto 
held  to  be  respectable  ! 

But  at  such  times  men  think  quickly.  The  lead- 
ers took  the  ideas  of  the  rank  and  file,  and  before 
the  year  ended  the  chiefs  and  the  soldiers  were  one. 
December  22,  the  shortest  day  of  the  dark  English 
winter,  a  public  reconciliation  took  place  amid  fasting 
and  prayer.  Together  they  sought  the  Lord  from 
nine  in  the  morning  until  seven  at  night,  Cromwell 
and  Ireton  among  others  praying  fervently  and  pa- 
thetically. The  assembly  came  forth  hand  in  hand, 
and  the  condition  of  union  was  that  Charles  Stuart, 
that  man  of  blood,  should  be  called  to  account. 


PART  III. 

AMERICAN   ENGLAND. 
1648-1653. 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE   IRONSIDES1   TAKE   THINGS   IN   HAND. 

WHEN  Parliament  heard,  on  the  3d  of  January, 
1648,  of  the  rejection  by  the  King  of  their  proposi- 
tions, a  scene  occurred  similar  to  that  in  which,  in 
1645,  tne  Self  Denying  Ordinance  was  moved.  As 
at  that  time  the  obscure  member  Zouch  Tate  was 
put  forward  to  make  the  motion,  in  that  way,  per- 
haps, less  likely  to  be  opposed  than  if  made  by  a 
chief,  so  now  a  certain  unknown  Sir  Thomas  Wroth, 
suddenly  rising,  moved  "  to  lay  the  King  by  and  to 
settle  the  kingdom  without  him."  As  Vane  on  the 
previous  occasion  had  at  once  seconded  Zouch  Tate, 
so  now  Ireton  seconded  Wroth,  and  the  Indepen- 
dents carried  it.  The  public  ferment,  however,  was 
immense  both  in  and  out  of  Parliament,  and  Crom- 

1  Since  the  entire  Army  now,  Cromwell,  it  is  no  abuse  of  a  term 
under  the  Independent  chiefs,  had  whose  application  is  very  vague 
become  pervaded  by  the  spirit  of  to  call  them  all  Ironsides. 


2 84  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1648. 

well,  perplexed  in  the  confusion,  tried  manfully  to 
reconcile  the  jarring  factions.  Getting  together 
the  Presbyterian  and  Independent  leaders,  clerical 
and  lay,  he  sought  vainly  to  establish  some  common 
ground.  Failing  here,  he  convened  privately  the 
civil  Independent  chiefs  and  the  Army  officers, — 
to  us  a  memorable  meeting,  for  here  it  was  that 
Vane  for  the  first  time  took  square  Republican 
ground.  Ludlow  reports l  that  with  Hutchinson, 
Sidney,  and  Haselrig,  Vane,  too,  was  loud  in  reject- 
ing all  idea  of  monarchy  as  condemned  by  Bible, 
reason,  and  experience.  Fairfax  and  Cromwell  were 
more  cautious.  They  were  pledged  to  the  soldiers, 
indeed,  to  bring  the  King  to  account,  but  were 
hardly  ready  to  commit  themselves  to  a  government 
without  monarchy.  The  embarrassments  were  in 
fact  terrible,  and  led  to  curious  manifestations.  On 
the  present  occasion,  the  discussion  growing  warm, 
and  Cromwell  being  pressed  to  declare  himself  till 
he  could  no  longer  evade  it,  he  suddenly  rose,  and 
with  a  forced  jest  rushed  out,  flinging,  as  he  went,  a 
cushion  at  Ludlow's  head.  Ludlow  threw  one  in  re- 
turn, "  which  made  him  hasten  down-stairs  faster 
than  he  desired."  We  shall  come  upon  similar  inci- 
dents hereafter :  it  would  be  wrong  to  interpret  them 
as  mere  unseemly  mirth. 

With  the  departure  of  the  Scots  the  Committee  of 
Both  Kingdoms,  of  course,  came  to  an  end,  and  on 
January  3d  Parliament  constituted  as  its  executive 
a  fresh  committee,  which  contained  all  the  English 
members  of  the  old,  and  enough  new  men  to  replace 

1  Memoirs,  183. 


1648.]     THE  IRONSIDES  TAKE  THINGS  IN  HAND.     285 

the  departed  Scotchmen.  As  now  constituted,  the 
committee  contained  twenty-one  members,  seven 
Lords  and  fourteen  Commoners,  among  whom  the 
leaders  were  Cromwell,  Vane,  St.  John,  and  Hasel- 
rig.  It  was  strongly  Independent;  and  as  Crom- 
well presently  took  the  field,  we  may  be  certain  that 
the  powerful  mind  of  Vane  was  at  the  centre  of  its 
influence.  It  met,  like  its  predecessor,  at  Derby 
House,  Canon  Row,  close  by  St.  Stephen's,  the  house 
at  which  Pym  had  died,  and  was  called  the  Derby 
House  Committee.  Here  the  most  weighty  affairs 
were  arranged  beforehand,  coming  afterwards  before 
the  Houses  ;  the  authority  of  the  Derby  House  Com- 
mittee was  almost  dictatorial,  and  it  was  to  play  a 
great  part  in  the  tremendous  events  of  the  year. 

Threatening  indeed  was  the  tempest  which  the 
Independents  had  now  to  breast.  The  treaty  of  the 
Scots  with  the  King  soon  became  known.  Forty 
thousand  Scots  under  the  Duke  of  Hamilton  were  to 
march  southward  as  soon  as  might  be.  They  were 
Covenanters,  and  just  before  had  been  in  arms 
against  all  Prelatists.  At  present,  however,  they 
hated  nothing  so  much  as  "  that  impious  toleration 
settled  by  the  Two  Houses  contrary  to  the  Cove- 
nant," and  were  prepared  to  strike  hands  with  any 
or  all  who  believed  in  putting  that  down,  relying 
upon  the  King's  uncertain  word  for  security  that  a 
proper  Presbyterianism  for  England  should  be  the 
outcome.  At  the  news  the  English  Presbyterians 
were  at  once  up  in  arms  :  still  more,  the  broken  Cav- 
aliers appeared,  horsed  and  sworded ;  and  behind 


286  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1648. 

these,  again,  Papists,  at  home  and  abroad,  were  on 
the  alert,  ready  to  fight  once  more  for  Charles,  each 
faction  feeling  sure  that  advantage  to  itself  would 
in  some  way  come  out.  London  was  in  an  uproar. 
In  spite  of  the  vigor  of  Vane  and  St.  John  in  head- 
ing off  plots,  the  cry,  "  For  God  and  King  Charles ! " 
rang  into  the  ears  of  Parliament  from  the  streets  of 
Westminster,  and  the  mob  was  only  put  down  by 
stern  charges  from  two  regiments  quartered  in  the 
city.  Close  at  hand  in  Kent,  Dorset,  Essex,  Surrey, 
Hertford,  Nottingham,  the  Royalists  were  rising, 
putting  at  their  head  the  old  chiefs  that  had  been 
beaten  at  Marston  Moor  and  Naseby.  Word  came 
that  the  North  was  aflame,  and  that  Sir  Marmaduke 
Langdale,  the  "  long,  thin  Yorkshireman,"  had  seized 
the  frontier  fortresses,  Berwick  and  Carlisle,  that  the 
invading  Scots  might  have  easy  entrance.  In  Ire- 
land, the  strongest  Parliamentary  supports  went  over 
to  the  King.  Eastward,  the  Prince  of  Wales  block- 
aded the  mouth  of  the  Thames  with  nineteen  ships, 
while  the  Parliamentary  fleet  revolted  and  put  their 
Admiral  ashore.  No  part  of  the  kingdom  had  been 
so  prompt  in  the  rising  as  Wales.  Before  winter 
had  ended,  the  King's  standards  were  vigorously  ad- 
vanced there,  and  almost  at  once  the  Parliament  had 
no  standing  room.  If  Parliament  had  been  a  unit 
against  all  this  danger,  it  would  have  seemed  less  ap- 
palling. It  had  dwindled  until  less  than  a  hundred 
were  present.  Before  April  was  ended,  however, 
absentees  came  back,  more  Presbyterians  than  Inde- 
pendents, until  the  tone  of  Parliament  became  weak, 
and  at  last  reactionary. 


1648.]     THE  IRONSIDES  TAKE  THINGS  IN  HAND.     287 

Fortunately  the  Derby  House  Committee  at  the 
centre  remained  under  the  control  of  the  Indepen- 
dents. It  faced  the  perils  with  all  possible  intrepid- 
ity and  force,  and  in  the  Army,  Ironsides  now  to  a 
man,  it  possessed  perhaps  the  most  fearful  instru- 
ment of  warfare  which  the  world  has  ever  seen. 
What  the  temper  of  the  Army  was  in  these  days 
we  may  know  from  an  affecting  account  that  has 
come  down  to  us,  from  one  of  those  prayerful,  un- 
bending soldiers,1  of  a  great  meeting  at  Windsor,  on 
the  eve  of  the  wonderful  campaign  of  the  summer, 
in  which  rank  and  file  and  Generals,  kneeling  and 
weeping  together,  beating  their  breasts  and  crying 
aloud  to  the  Lord,  became  transfused  with  a  spirit- 
ual energy  that  seems  almost  supernatural.  Indeed, 
though  the  opposition  was  so  general  and  terrible, 
its  strength  was  more  apparent  than  real.  Many 
Presbyterians  could  not  bring  themselves  to  strike 
hands  with  the  Cavaliers.  In  Scotland,  too,  discord 
paralyzed  to  some  extent  the  effort  for  the  King. 
But  with  every  deduction,  men  have  seldomed  faced 
a  storm  more  overwhelming  than  those  Indepen- 
dents of  1648.  Well  did  they  need  to  steel  their 
spirits  from  whatever  source  power  could  come ! 

"In  the  year  Forty-seven,  you  may  remember," 
says  Adjutant  Allen,  "we  in  the  army  were  engaged 
in  actions  of  a  very  high  nature ;  leading  us  to  very 
untrodden  paths,  both  in  our  contests  with  the  then 
Parliament,  as  also  conferences  with  the  King.  In 

1  Adjutant  Allen's  Memorial  in  England  at  Windsor  Castle,  in 
of  that  remarkable  Meeting  of  1648,  Somers  Tracts,  vi.  499-501. 
many  of  the  Officers  of  the  Army 


288  YOUNG   SIR  HENRY   VANE.  [1648. 

which  great  works,  wanting  a  spirit  of  faith,  and 
also  the  fear  of  the  Lord,  and  also  being  unduly  sur- 
prised with  the  fear  of  man,  which  always  brings  a 
snare,  we  to  make  haste,  as  we  thought,  out  of  such 
perplexities,  measuring  our  way  by  a  wisdom  of  our 
own,  fell  into  Treaties  with  the  King  and  his  Party; 
which  proved  such  a  snare  to  us,  and  led  into  such 
labyrinths  by  the  end  of  that  year,  that  the  very 
things  we  thought  to  avoid,  by  the  means  we  used 
of  our  own  devising,  were  all,  with  many  more  of 
a  far  worse  and  more  perplexing  nature,  brought 
back  upon  us.  To  the  overwhelming  of  our  spirits, 
weakening  of  our  hands  and  hearts ;  filling  us  with 
divisions,  confusions,  tumults,  and  every  evil  work ; 
and  thereby  endangering  the  ruin  of  that  blessed 
Cause  we  had,  with  such  success,  been  prospered  in 
till  that  time. 

"  For  now  the  King  and  his  Party,  seeing  us  not 
answer  their  ends,  began  to  provide  for  themselves, 
by  a  Treaty  with  the  then  Parliament,  set  on  foot 
about  the  beginning  of  Forty-eight.  The  Parlia- 
ment also  was,  at  the  same  time,  highly  displeased 
with  us  for  what  we  had  done,  both  as  to  the  King 
and  themselves.  The  good  people  likewise,  even 
our  most  cordial  friends  in  the  Nation,  beholding 
our  turning  aside  from  the  path  of  simplicity  we  had 
formerly  walked  in,  and  been  blessed  in,  and  thereby 
much  endeared  to  their  hearts,  began  now  to  fear, 
and  withdraw  their  affections  from  us,  in  this  politic 
path  which  we  had  stepped  into,  and  walked  in  to  our 
hurt,  the  year  before.  And  as  a  farther  fruit  of  the 
wages  of  our  backsliding  hearts,  we  were  also  filled 


1648.]     THE  IRONSIDES  TAKE  THINGS  IN  HAND.    289 

with  a  spirit  of  great  jealousy  and  divisions  amongst 
ourselves ;  having  left  that  wisdom  of  the  word, 
which  is  first  pure  and  then  peaceable  ;  so  that  we 
were  now  fit  for  little  but  to  tear  and  rend  one  an- 
other, and  thereby  prepare  ourselves,  and  the  work 
in  our  hands,  to  be  ruined  by  our  common  enemies. 
The  King  and  his  Party  prepare  accordingly  to  ruin 
all  by  sudden  Insurrections  in  most  parts  of  the 
Nation :  the  Scot,  concurring  with  the  same  designs, 
comes  in  with  a  potent  Army  under  Duke  Hamilton. 
We  in  the  army,  in  a  low,  weak,  divided,  perplexed 
condition  in  all  respects,  as  aforesaid  :  —  some  of  us 
judging  it  a  duty  to  lay  down  our  arms,  to  quit  our 
stations,  and  put  ourselves  into  the  capacities  of 
private  men  —  since  what  we  had  done,  and  what 
was  yet  in  our  hearts  to  do,  tending  as  we  judged  to 
the  good  of  these  poor  Nations,  was  not  accepted  by 
them. 

"  Some  also  even  encouraged  themselves  and  us  to 
such  a  thing  by  urging  for  such  a  practice  the  ex- 
ample of  our  Lord  Jesus ;  who,  when  he  had  borne 
an  eminent  testimony  to  the  pleasure  of  his  Father 
in  an  active  way,  sealed  it  at  last  by  his  sufferings ; 
which  was  presented  to  us  as  our  pattern  for  imita- 
tion. Others  of  us,  however,  were  different  minded  ; 
thinking  something  of  another  nature  might  yet  be 
farther  our  duty ;  —  and  these  therefore  were,  by 
joint  advice,  by  a  good  hand  of  the  Lord/  led  to  this 
result ;  viz.,  To  go  solemnly  to  search  out  our  in- 
iquities, and  humble  our  souls  before  the  Lord  in  the 
sense  of  the  same ;  which,  we  were  persuaded,  had 
provoked  the  Lord  against  us,  to  bring  such  sad  per- 


2QO  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1648. 

plexities  upon  us  at  that  day.     Out  of  which  we  saw 
no  way  else  to  extricate  themselves. 

"  Accordingly  we  did  agree  to  meet  at  Windsor 
Castle  about  the  beginning  of  Forty-eight.  And 
there  we  spent  one  day  together  in  prayer ;  inquir- 
ing into  the  causes  of  that  sad  dispensation,  coming 
to  no  farther  result  that  day  but  that  it  was  still 
our  duty  to  seek.  And  on  the  morrow  we  met  again 
in  the  morning ;  where  many  spake  from  the  Word 
and  prayed ;  and  the  then  Lieutenant-General  Crom- 
well did  press  very  earnestly  on  all  there  present, 
to  a  thorough  consideration  of  our  actions  as  an 
Army,  and  of  our  ways  particularly  as  private  Chris- 
tians :  to  see  if  any  iniquity  could  be  found  in  them  ; 
and  what  it  was ;  that  if  possible  we  might  find  it 
out,  and  so  remove  the  cause  of  such  sad  rebukes 
as  were  upon  us  (by  reason  of  our  iniquities,  as  we 
judged)  at  that  time.  And  the  way  more  partic- 
ularly the  Lord  led  us  to  herein  was  this  :  To  look 
back  and  consider  what  time  it  was  when  with  joint 
satisfaction  we  could  last  say  to  the  best  of  our  judg- 
ment, The  presence  of  the  Lord  was  among  us,  and 
rebukes  and  judgments  were  not  as  then  upon  us. 
Which  time  the  Lord  led  us  jointly  to  find  out  and 
agree  in  ;  and  having  done  so,  to  proceed,  as  we  then 
judged  it  our  duty,  to  search  into  all  our  public 
actions  as  an  Army,  afterwards.  Duly  weighing 
(as  the  Lord  helped  us)  each  of  them,  with  their 
grounds,  rules,  and  ends,  as  near  as  we  could.  And 
so  we  concluded  this  second  day,  with  agreeing  to 
meet  again  on  the  morrow.  Which  accordingly  we 
did  upon  the  same  occasion,  reassuming  the  consid- 


1648.]     THE  IRONSIDES  TAKE  THINGS  IN  HAND.    291 

eration  of  our  debates  the  day  before,  and  reviewing 
our  actions  again. 

"  By  which  means  we  were,  by  a  gracious  hand  of 
the  Lord,  led  to  find  out  the  very  steps  (as  we  were 
all  then  jointly  convinced)  by  which  we  had  departed 
from  the  Lord,  and  provoked  Him  to  depart  from 
us.  Which  we  found  to  be  those  cursed  carnal 
Conferences,  our  own  conceited  wisdom,  our  fears, 
and  want  of  faith  had  prompted  us,  the  year  before, 
to  entertain  with  the  King  and  his  Party.  At  this 
time,  and  on  this  occasion,  did  the  then  Major  Goffe 
(as  I  remember  was  his  title)  make  use  of  that  good 
Word,  Proverbs  First  and  Twenty-third,  Turn  you  at 
my  reproof :  behold  I  will  pour  out  my  Spirit  unto 
you,  I  will  make  known  my  words  unto  you.  Which, 
we  having  found  out  our  sin,  he  urged  as  our  duty 
from  those  words.  And  the  Lord  so  accompanied 
by  His  Spirit,  that  it  had  a  kindly  effect,  like  a  word 
of  His,  upon  most  of  our  hearts  that  were  then  pre- 
sent ;  which  begot  in  us  a  great  sense,  a  shame  and 
loathing  of  ourselves  for  our  iniquities,  and  a  justi- 
fying of  the  Lord  as  righteous  in  His  proceedings 
against  us. 

"  And  in  this  path  the  Lord  led  us  not  only  to  see 
our  sin,  but  also  our  duty  ;  and  this 'so  unanimously 
set  with  weight  upon  each  heart,  that  none  was 
hardly  able  to  speak  a  word  to  each  other  for  bitter 
weeping,  partly  in  the  sense  and  shan/ie  of  our  in- 
iquities ;  of  our  unbelief,  base  fear  of  men,  and  carnal 
consultations  (as  the  fruit  thereof)  with  our  own 
wisdom,  and  not  with  the  Word  of  the  Lord  —  which 
only  is  a  way  of  wisdom,  strength,  and  safety,  and  all 


292  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY   VANE.  [1648. 

beside  it  are  ways  of  snares.  And  yet  we  were  also 
helped,  with  fear  and  trembling,  to  rejoice  in  the 
Lord,  whose  faithfulness  and  loving-kindness,  we 
were  made  to  see,  yet  failed  us  not ;  —  who  remem- 
bered us  still,  even  in  our  low  estate,  because  His 
mercy  endures  for  ever.  Who  no  sooner  brought 
us  to  His  feet  acknowledging  Him  in  that  way  of 
His  (viz.  searching  for,  being  ashamed  of,  and  willing 
to  turn  from,  our  iniquities,)  but  He  did  direct  our 
steps ;  and  presently  we  were  led  and  helped  to 
a  clear  agreement  amongst  ourselves,  not  any  dis- 
senting. That  it  was  the  duty  of  our  day,  with  the 
forces  we  had,  to  go  out  and  fight  against  those 
potent  enemies,  which  that  year  in  all  places  appeared 
against  us.  With  an  humble  confidence,  in  the 
name  of  the  Lord  only,  that  we  should  destroy  them. 
And  we  were  also  enabled  then,  after  serious  seek- 
ing His  face,  to  come  to  a  very  clear  and  joint  reso- 
lution, on  many  grounds  at  large  there  debated 
among  us,  That  it  was  our  duty,  if  ever  the  Lord 
brought  us  back  again  in  peace,  to  call  Charles 
Stuart,  that  man  of  blood,  to  an  account  for  that 
blood  he  had  shed,  and  mischief  he  had  done  to  his 
utmost,  against  the  Lord's  Cause  and  People  in  these 
poor  Nations. 

"  And  how  the  Lord  led  and  prospered  us  in  all 
our  undertakings  that  year,  in  this  way ;  cutting  His 
work  short,  in  righteousness ;  making  it  a  year  of 
mercy,  equal  if  not  transcendent  to  any  since  these 
Wars  began  ;  and  making  it  worthy  of  remembrance 
by  every  gracious  soul,  who  was  wise  to  observe  the 
Lord,  and  the  operations  of  His  hands  —  I  wish 
may  never  be  forgotten." 


1648.]     THE  IRONSIDES  TAKE  THINGS  IN  HAND-     293 

Promptly  obedient  to  the  Derby  House  Committee, 
Lambert  —  whom  we  saw  deserted  by  his  recruits 
at  Marston  Moor,  and  who  since  then  had  devel- 
oped into  a  brilliant  soldier,  like  Ireton  bred  to  the 
law,  ready  witted  in  council  as  well  as  brave  and  re- 
sourceful in  action  —  was  sent  North  to  make  head 
against  the  invading  Scots.  Fairfax,  now  Lord 
Fairfax,  through  his  father's  death,  was  less- thoroughly 
an  Independent  than  his  fellow  generals.  As  a 
noble,  he  could  hardly  have  full  sympathy  with  the 
children  of  the  People.  His  wife  was  Presbyterian 
in  her  inclinations,  a  woman  of  force,  who  influ- 
enced him  much.  He  was  already  shrinking  from 
the  bald  Republicanism  that  was  proclaiming  itself 
into  a  reactionary  course  that  was  to  carry  him 
back  before  he  died  to  the  party  of  the  Stuarts.  As 
a  soldier  he  was  still  most  chivalrous  and  intrepid. 
He  could  not  be  spared,  but  it  was  thought  well  to 
put  at  his  side  Ireton,  who  almost  as  much  as  Crom- 
well was  the  heart  of  the  Ironsides.  By  the  Derby 
House  Committee,  Fairfax  and  Ireton,  in  May,  were 
thrown  upon  the  insurgents  near  London.  They 
fell  like  a  thunderbolt  upon  the  gathering  discontent. 
There  was  to  be  no  quarter  now,  for  the  King  was  no 
longer  present ;  a  far  fiercer  spirit  than  that  of  the 
earlier  war  prevailed.  The  flame  of  revolt  was  piti- 
lessly quenched  in  blood.  Resistance  ended  at 
length  except  within  the  lines  of  Colches/.er  in  Essex. 
Before  that  obstinate  stronghold,  Fairfax  and  Ireton 
lay  throughout  the  summer,  its  siege  and  final  cap- 
ture forming  a  horrible  incident  even  in  that  century 
of  horrors. 

\ 


2Q4  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1648. 

But  where,  meantime,  was  Cromwell  ?  Distrusted 
by  some  as  too  violent,  by  others  as  having  labored 
suspiciously  to  form  a  bond  with  the  King,  he  felt 
that  his  prestige  was  departing.  Wearied  out  with 
efforts  at  accommodation  and  dealing  with  civil  prob- 
lems, we  may  be  sure  that  the  champion  shouted 
gladly  at  length  his  war-cry,  "  The  sword  of  the  Lord 
and  of  Gideon,"  and  assumed  his  helmet.  Leaving 
the  Derby  House  Committee  to  be  guided  mainly 
by  Vane  and  St.  John,  it  was  his  task,  first  to  march 
with  five  regiments  to  recover  Wales,  and  then  to 
face  what  other  dangers  the  summer  might  bring 
forth.  He  was  impetuous,  probably,  as  never  before, 
his  soul  on  fire  with  fanaticism  (or  shall  we  call  it 
inspiration  ?)  as  he  swept  with  his  perfect  troopers 
through  the  smouldering  rebellion  to  those  outer  re- 
gions which  it  was  to  be  his  part  to  subdue.  The 
tramp  of  those  squadrons  was  merciless  and  swift ; 
but  they  had  not  beaten  out  resistance  before  upon 
the  land  burst  the  dreaded  northern  foe. 

One  may  still  look  upon  the  ancient  walls  of  Car- 
lisle, rugged  souvenirs  of  the  times  of  blood  and 
iron  we  have  left  behind  us.  They  have  fronted  war 
in  all  the  masks  it  has  assumed  for  a  thousand  years. 
They  have  been  swept  of  defenders  by  bolts  from 
cross-bows,  as  well  as  breached  by  round-shot  from 
cannon.  They  have  seen  the  pomp  and  the  terror 
that  has  attended  the  march  of  a  hundred  armies. 
The  walls  of  Carlisle  have  never  seen  a  gayer  parade 
than  that  of  the  twelve  thousand  Scots  who  marched 
past  them  in  July,  the  Duke  of  Hamilton,  their 
leader,  at  the  head  of  his  life-guards,  the  trumpeters 


1 648.]     THE  IRONSIDES  TAKE  THINGS  IN  HAND.    295 

riding  first  in  scarlet  coats  set  off  with  silver  lace. 
Sir  Marmaduke  was  at  hand  to  join  them  with  all 
the  Royalist  strength  of  the  North,  and  the  invasion 
rolled  toward  London  unhindered,  twenty  thousand 
strong.  The  wary  Lambert,  with  a  handful  of  Iron- 
sides, hovered  on  the  flank,  not  strong  enough  to  at- 
tack, but  dreadful  to  foragers,  and  cutting  off  every 
scout  and  courier.  As  the  Scots  approached,  sedi- 
tion beset  the  Independent  power  at  the  very  heart. 
Parliament  was  thronged  with  men  who  called  the  in- 
vaders brethren.  The  banished  Holies  came  back  to 
resume  his  seat,  and  steps  were  even  taken  for  the 
impeachment  of  Cromwell.  What  men  have  fought 
to  success  against  odds  more  enormous ! 

On  the  nth  of  July  Cromwell  had  won  the  day  in 
Wales.  On  the  i3th  he  set  out  with  five  or  six 
thousand,  worn  already  with  the  hardest  marching 
and  fighting.  All  seemed  to  have  served,  however, 
only  to  knit  their  vigor.  "  Send  me  some  shoes," 
wrote  Cromwell  to  Derby  House,  "  for  my  poor  tired 
soldiers.  They  have  a  long  march  to  take."  From 
western  Wales  he  traversed  almost  all  England  with 
a  rapidity  unexampled,  not  finding  his  shoes  until  he 
reached  Nottingham.  He  was  waging  a  war  in  the 
name  of  Parliament,  which  at  the  moment  Parlia- 
ment was  doing  all  it  could  to  stop.  If  leader  ever 
fought,  says  Masson,  with  rope  about  his  neck,  it 
was  he.  He  now  pressed  northward  with  even  greater 
speed.  His  rude  face  was  all  alight,  as  on  the 
march  he  passed  ever  from  rank  to  rank,  now  storm- 
fully  praying,  now  shouting  scriptural  war-cries,  now 
joining  from  the  saddle  in  the  chanting  of  some  fierce 


296  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1648. 

psalm :  and  the  men,  as  they  sped  on  in  the  summer 
dust  and  heat,  cried  and  prayed  in  response  till  their 
spirits  glowed  as  if  touched  by  a  coal  from  the  altar 
of  the  Lord.  They,  at  least,  felt  that  to  be  the  qual- 
ity of  their  enthusiasm. 

In  three  weeks  the  march  was  over,  from  south- 
western Wales  far  eastward,  then  into  the  North.  A 
junction  was  formed  with  Lambert,  and  now,  eight 
thousand  against  twenty  thousand,  the  battle  was  to 
be  joined.  Its  story  here  would  scarcely  be  in  place. 
Vane,  indeed,  working  at  Derby  House,  making 
head,  too,  as  he  could  in  St.  Stephen's  against  the 
overwhelming  mass  crying  out  for  an  ignoble  peace, 
and  demanding  the  head  of  the  leader  who  was  fight- 
ing to  bring  about  a  better  destiny  for  England, 
had  a  relation  close  and  important  with  all  that  was 
done  in  the  field.  But  it  was  less  close,  perhaps, 
than  in  the  case  of  Naseby  and  Marston  Moor.  It 
is  enough  to  say  that  Cromwell  struck  the  Scots  at 
Preston,  in  Lancashire.  Hamilton  thought  him  per- 
haps still  in  Wales,  and  was  proceeding  in  a  long 
straggling  line,  his  men  on  ill  terms  with  the  Eng- 
lish Cavaliers,  his  officers  jealous  among  themselves. 
The  Ironsides  dashed  upon  him  like  lightning  from 
a  clear  sky.  Sir  Marmaduke  held  them  for  four 
hours,  bitterly  breasting  a  second  time  the  points 
which  had  thrown  him  into  rout  on  the  Broad  Moor. 
All  courage  was  vain.  Each  column  was  crushed, 
then  each  fugitive  squadron  hunted  down  and  pul- 
verized. Nought  was  left  but  here  and  there  a 
wretched  Scot,  fleeing  toward  the  border,  pretending 
to  be  dumb  that  his  brogue  might  not  betray  him  to 


1648.]     THE  IRONSIDES  TAKE  THINGS  IN  HAND.    297 

the  enraged  country  people,  holding  out  his  hands 
pitifully  for  bread.  Nearly  at  the  same  time  Fairfax 
and  Ireton  brought  Colchester  to  surrender.  Eng- 
land was  in  the  hands  of  the  Independents,  and  those 
hands  were  stern. 

In  these  terrible  weeks,  what  heart-sinkings  must 
have  beset  the  Independents  in  London,  striving  to 
make  head  against  the  hostility  about  them,  pre- 
pared to  leap  upon  them  at  the  first  sign  of  ill-suc- 
cess in  the  field  !  In  the  Houses  the  majority  was 
hopelessly  against  them,  but  how  resolute  was  the 
Derby  House  Committee  !  Under  the  secrecy  to 
which  the  members  were  all  sworn,  how  vigorous  the 
administration  !  they  sent  not  only  the  shoes  to  Crom- 
well in  which  the  Ironsides  marched  to  Preston,  but 
gathered  recruits  and  money,  powder  and  ball,  pikes 
and  breast-plates,  horses,  cannon,  stores  of  every 
kind,  so  as  to  maintain  at  their  highest  efficiency 
those  superb  fighters.  The  present  writer  has  care- 
fully studied  the  Order  Books  of  the  Committee,  as 
Gualter  Frost,  the  clerk,  day  by  day,  made  note  of 
the  items  of  its  business.  The  record  is  meagre,  and 
as  regards  information  about  the  particular  work  of 
young  Sir  Henry  Vane,  there  is  the  exasperating  em- 
barrassment already  referred  to.  Old  Sir  Henry  Vane 
is  of  the  Committee,  too,  and  though  father  and  son 
are  sometimes  distinguished,  frequently  the  reference 
is  simply  to  "  Vane,"  and  the  historian  is  quite  at  a 
loss  which  of  the  two  is  meant.  During  the  spring 
months  not  more  than  six  or  seven  of  the  twenty-one 
are  usually  present,  and  at  the  end  of  May,  Frost  is 


298  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1648. 

instructed  to  secure  a  larger  attendance.  Of  the 
faithful  ones,  we  can  make  sure  of  young  Sir  Harry. 
On  the  3d  of  June  he  is  appointed  to  despatch  pow- 
der to  Bristol  for  Cromwell's  use  in  Wales ;  just 
after  he  is  to  go  to  Fairfax,  closing  in  on  Colchester ; 
again  "  to  go  to  the  Lord  General  about  the  revolted 
ships."  As  one  reads,  he  hears  faintly,  in  fancy,  the 
roar  of  insurrection  all  about  the  little  group,  and  the 
more  distant  thunder  of  invasion  along  the  border. 
In  their  places,  they  are  as  brave,  perhaps  in  as  much 
peril,  as  the  men  at  the  front. 

In  July  and  August,  young  Sir  Harry  seems  from 
the  record  to  have  been  much  absent,  and  a  few 
years  after  this  time,  in  a  memorable  letter  to  Crom- 
well, from  whom  he  had  become  estranged,  occurs 
the  following  passage  : l  "  The  message  which  in 
former  times  you  sent  me  is  in  my  memory  still ;  it 
was  immediately  after  the  Lord  had  appeared  with 
you  against  Duke  Hamilton's  army,  when  you  bid  a 
friend  of  mine  tell  your  Brother  Vane  (for  so  you 
then  thought  fit  to  call  me)  that  you  were  as  much 
unsatisfied  with  his  passive  and  suffering  principles, 
as  he  was  with  your  active."  Cromwell  and  Vane 
up  to  this  time  had  been  in  complete  accord,  and  the 
words  just  cited  contain  the  only  hint  existing  that 
they  now  in  any  way  differed.  What  precisely  Crom- 
well criticised  it  is  impossible  to  say.  Can  there 
have  been  any  diminution  of  energy  in  Vane's  work 
which  Cromwell  thought  deserved  rebuke  ?  At  this 

1  From  a  letter  to  Cromwell,  in     Question"  in  an  old  volume  in  the 
1656,     from     Carisbrook     Castle,     British  Museum, 
bound    up    with     the    "  Healing 


1648.]      THE  IRONSIDES  TAKE  THINGS  IN  HAND.  299 

time  he  was  somewhat  broken  down  by  illness :  for 
that  reason  he  may  have  shown  a  slackness  which 
Cromwell  misinterpreted.  On  August  25th,  the  day 
the  victory  at  Preston  was  announced  in  the  Com- 
mons, Vane  receives  permission  "  to  go  into  the 
country  for  the  recovery  of  his  health." l  There  is 
no  other  evidence  than  his  own  words  that  his  great 
companion  censured  him.  Indeed  there  is  evidence 
in  the  quoted  passage  and  elsewhere  that  Cromwell 
held  Vane  at  this  time  in  warm  affection.  While  his 
soul  was  growing  calm  from  the  tumult  of  battle,  on 
September  ist  Cromwell  wrote  in  a  note  to  St.  John: 
"  Remember  my  love  to  my  dear  brother  H.  Vane : 
I  pray  he  make  not  too  little  nor  I  too  much,  of  out- 
ward dispensations."  2 

Vane  was  not  so  crippled  as  to  be  prevented  from 
being  at  work  through  most  of  the  month  of  August. 
The  constantly  recurring  topic  of  negotiations  with 
the  King  again  came  up  and  was  violently  pressed, 
Vane  and  St.  John  heading  the  Independents  in  the 
Commons  in  strenuous  resistance.  It  was,  however, 
carried  over  their  heads,  and  before  the  armies,  pant- 
ing from  their  hard  fighting,  could  make  their  will 
felt,  new  commissioners  were  appointed,  to  try  once 
more  to  bring  Charles  to  terms.  Vane's  stay  in  the 
country  was  a  short  one.  On  September  ist  he  was 
appointed  one  of  the  fifteen  commissioners  to  wait 
upon  the  King,  and  there  was  no  man  but  him  of  the 
fifteen  "  who  did  not  desire  that  a  peace  might  be 
established  by  that  treaty."3  If  his  energy  had  ever 
relaxed,  it  was  now  restored. 

1  Journal  of  the  Com mons.  8  Clarendon,  v.  2343. 

8  Carlyle,  ii.  453.  ' 


300  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY   VANE.  [1648. 

The  conduct  of  the  King  was  more  pitiable  than 
ever.  "  This  negotiation,"  he  wrote  in  August,  "  will 
be  derisive  like  the  rest.  There  is  no  change  in  my 
designs."  His  real  thought  was  to  escape  to  Ire- 
land, form  a  league  with  the  Catholics,  and  with  the 
help  of  money  and  arms  from  France,  continue  ener- 
getic war.  He  was  not  shaken  in  this  secret  purpose 
by  the  tremendous  defeats  of  the  summer.  Out- 
wardly, however,  when  the  commissioners  appeared, 
he  seemed  compliant.  Misfortune  had  turned  his 
hair  gray,  and  deepened  the  lines  of  his  face.  The 
Presbyterian  leaders  threw  themselves  on  their  knees, 
and  besought  him  weeping  to  make  concessions ; 
and  day  after  day  throughout  the  fall  he  discussed 
elaborately  the  propositions  offered,  his  heart  mean- 
time secretly  fixed  on  something  far  different.  Vane 
stood  with  his  fellow  commissioners  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  plausible  majestic  Prince,  bearing  his 
part  in  the  debates.  Now,  for  the  first  time  since 
his  extreme  youth,  he  came  under  that  marvellous 
spell  which  Charles  could  exercise,  and  he  seems  to 
have  felt  its  power.  He  declared  they  had  been 
much  deceived  in  the  King;  they  had  believed  him 
to  be  a  weak  person,  but  they  found  him  a  man  of 
great  parts  and  abilities.2  Still  Vane,  probably  alone 
of  the  commissioners,  distrusted  him  utterly,  and  if 
any  faith  may  be  put  in  the  report  of  enemies,  met 
his  cunning  with  cunning.  "  We  have  some  here," 
wrote  a  Royalist,  "  who  under  a  face  of  friendship 
do  ill  offices,  and  most  of  his  Majesty's  councils 
in  private  are  rifled  before  they  come  into  public 
debate.  It  is  to  be  feared  that  Lord  Say  and  Sir 

1  Guizot,  415.  2  Godwin,  ii.  612.     Echard,  ii.  615. 


1648.]     THE  IRONSIDES  TAKE  THINGS  IN  HAND.    30 1 

Harry  Vane  have  appeared  to  some  in  the  shape  of 
angels.  These  two  hate  the  Covenant  as  they  do 
the  Devil."1  It  is  charged,  too,  that  he  persuaded 
the  King  "  not  to  be  too  prodigal  in  his  concessions, 
—  that  he  had  already  yielded  more  than  was  fit  for 
them  to  ask  or  him  to  grant:  yet  afterwards  this 
most  restless  man  did  most  fiercely  and  perfidiously 
inveigh,"  as  if  nothing  substantial  had  been  granted.2 
The  long  delay  in  the  negotiations  was  also  ascribed 
to  him,  that  the  Army,  having  time  thoroughly  to 
finish  their  work  in  the  field,  might  be  ready  to 
interpose  before  any  treaty  could  be  made.3  It  is 
quite  possible  that  Vane's  astuteness  was  at  this 
time  in  full  play ;  the  use  of  it,  if  ever  venial,  would 
be  so  against  such  an  object  as  Charles,  whose  ways 
were  never  more  crooked  than  now.  On  November 
28th  the  conference  was  over,  and  the  commissioners 
proceeded  to  report. 

The  ability  of  the  Independent  statesmen  fully 
kept  pace  with  that  of  their  Generals.  While  the 
management  of  the  Presbyterians  was  poor,  the  other 
party,4  "  entirely  led  and  governed  by  two  or  three 
to  whom  they  resigned  implicitly  the  conduct  of  their 
interest,"  maintained  themselves  wonderfully  when 
things  were  dark  for  them,  and  immediately  when 
fortune  turned,  drove  toward  what  had  become  their 
great  purpose  with  all  possible  force  and  skill. 
Though  the  Presbyterian  plan  of  sending  commis- 
sioners anew  to  the  King  had  been  carried  out,  care 

1  Mercurio  Volpone  or  the  Fox,         8  Echard,  ii.  616.     Burnet,  i.  60, 
October  5, 12.    Tbomasson  Tracts,     61. 

cccclxvii.  4  Clarendon,  v.  2220. 

2  Anthony   a 
Oxon.,  art.  "  Vane." 


302  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1648. 

was  taken  that  Vane  should  be  among  them  to  see 
that  no  harm  should  come  from  the  negotiation. 
Meantime,  in  London,  there  was  no  waiting,  but 
things  were  guided  toward  the  consummation  which 
the  Independents  wished.  Thomas  Scott  was  out- 
spoken in  Parliament.  Now  that  the  popular  feeling 
began  to  run  in  their  favor,  great  petitions,  engineered 
by  the  Independent  chiefs,  began  to  pour  in  from 
London  and  the  country,  denouncing  the  attempt  to 
come  to  an  agreement  with  the  King,  and  announcing 
democratic  principles.  One  which  Henry  Marten 
wrote  proclaimed  the  House  of  Commons  the  su- 
preme authority  in  England,  repudiated  the  idea  that 
King  or  Lords  had  a  right  to  stand  against  it,  and 
declared  that  matters  of  religion  should  be  free  from 
the  power  of  any  authority  on  earth.  Forty  thou- 
sand in  and  near  London,  Presbyterian  though  the 
city  was  in  tone,  were  found  to  sign  this,  and  the 
people  of  the  shires,  taking  example,  pronounced 
themselves  as  emphatically.1 

As  the  fall  went  on,  the  Army,  getting  breath  from 
the  struggle  of  the  summer,  caused  it  to  be  known 
that  the  ideas  for  which  they  had  fought  must  no 
longer  be  trifled  with.  Since  for  us  the  story  of 
these  times  is  interesting  for  the  manifestation  of 
Republicanism,  the  Grand  Army  Remonstrance  of 
November  must  have  our  careful  attention,  as  mark- 
ing another  great  step  in  advance.  It  has  been  seen 
that  Republicanism  first  appears  in  1647,  in  the 
lower  council  of  the  Army,  among  the  Agitators  who 
represent  the  rank  and  file.  Next  we  find  the  great 

1  Whitlocke  :  Memorials^  ii.  413,  419. 


1648.]     THE  IRONSIDES  TAKE  THINGS  IN  HAND.    303 

civil  leaders  committing  themselves  to  the  idea,  in 
the  beginning  of  1648.  According  to  Ludlow's  ac- 
count of  the  meeting  between  civil  and  Army  chiefs, 
in  which  the  cushion-throwing  was  a  feature,  Crom- 
well was  not  then  prepared,  as  were  Vane,  Marten, 
and  Scott,  for  the  utter  laying  by  of  the  old  order. 
Under  their  helmets,  however,  in  the  Lancashire 
smitings,  and  before  Colchester,  the  revolutionary 
ideas  ripened  fast  With  the  fall,  the  captains  stood 
thoroughly  with  their  men,  and  with  the  chiefs  at 
St.  Stephen's. 

The  Grand  Army  Remonstrance/  written  by  Ire- 
ton,  is  the  long  and  carefully  prepared  work  of  a 
scholar  and  lawyer.  Though  addressed  to  the  House 
of  Commons,  it  was  intended  to  express  to  the  nation 
the  position  of  the  Army,  and  the  plan  they  meant 
to  pursue.  The  attempt  to  treat  with  the  King  was 
solemnly  denounced.  "  Though  the  Lord  had  again 
laid  bare  his  arm,  and  that  small  Army  which  they 
had  ceased  to  trust,  and  had  wellnigh  deserted  and 
cast  off,  had  been  enabled  to  shiver  all  the  banded 
strength  of  a  second  English  insurrection,  aided  by 
Scotland,  —  even  after  the  rebuke  from  God,  were  they 
not  pursuing  the  same  phantom  of  accommodation?" 
The  principle  was  laid  down  that  the  Representative 
Council  of  Parliament  must  be  supreme,  that  any 
form  of  monarchy  must  be  regarded  as  a  creation 
of  that  freely  elected  Council,  for  special  ends  and 
within  special  limits,  and  that  the  Monarch,  if  in  any 
way  derelict,  could  justly  be  called  to  account.  It 
was  urged  that  Charles  deserved  to  be  so  called  to 

1  Rushworth,  vii.  1297-8,  1311-12,  1330.     Whitlocke,  {1.436. 


304  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1648. 

account.  If  there  were  any  hope  of  amendment,  he 
might  be  treated  tenderly.  "  If  there  were  good  evi- 
dence of  a  proportionable  remorse  in  him,  and  that 
his  coming  in  again  were  with  a  new  or  changed 
heart,  ...  his  person  might  be  capable  of  pity,  mercy, 
and  pardon,  and  an  accommodation  with  him,  with  a 
full  and  free  yielding  on  his  part  to  all  the  aforesaid 
points  of  public  and  religious  interest  in  contest, 
might,  in  charitable  construction,  be  just,  and  possi- 
bly safe  and  beneficial."  But  the  King  had  been 
utterly  faithless,  it  was  urged,  and  continued  to  be 
so.  In  a  passage  showing  how  thoroughly  they  pen- 
etrated the  King's  falseness,  it  was  declared  that 
even  now,  after  his  complete  second  ruin,  he  was 
plotting  and  prevaricating,  while  secretly  expecting 
aid  from  the  Irish  rebels.  "  Have  you  not  found  him 
at  this  play  all  along,  and  do  not  all  men  acknowl- 
edge him  most  exquisite  at  it  ?  "  At  length  come  the 
immediate  demands :  and  first,  that  the  King  might 
be  brought  to  justice ;  that  his  heirs,  the  boys  after- 
ward to  be  Charles  II  and  James  II,  should  return 
to  England  and  submit  themselves  completely  to  the 
judgment  of  the  nation ;  and  that  a  number  of  the 
chief  instruments  of  the  King  in  the  wars  should  be 
brought  with  him  to  capital  punishment.  All  obdu- 
rate delinquents  were  to  undergo  banishment  and  con- 
fiscation of  property,  and  all  claims  of  the  Army  to 
be  fully  satisfied.  In  the  prospective  demands  with 
which  the  noble  document  ends,  the  Army  require: 
i.  A  termination  of  the  existing  Parliament  within  a 
reasonable  time ;  2.  a  guaranteed  succession  of  sub- 
sequent Parliaments,  annual  or  biennial,  the  franchise 


1648.]     THE  IRONSIDES  TAKE  THINGS  IN  HAND.     305 

to  be  so  adjusted  that  Parliament  shall  really  repre- 
sent all  reputable  Englishmen ;  3.  the  temporary 
disf  ranchisement  of  all  who  had  adhered  to  the  King ; 
and,  4.  a  strict  provision  that  the  Representative  of 
the  people  should  be  supreme  in  all  things,  only  not 
to  re-question  the  policy  of  the  Civil  War  itself,  or 
touch  the  foundations  of  common  right,  liberty,  and 
safety.  In  the  polity  indicated,  the  Kingship,  if  kept 
up,  was  to  be  a  purely  elective  office,  every  successive 
holder  of  which  should  be  chosen  expressly  by  Par- 
liament, and  should  have  no  veto  on  laws  passed  by 
Parliament,  —  in  other  words,  an  American  Presi- 
dent,—  elected  by  Congress,  however,  instead  of  an 
Electoral  College,  and  shorn  of  his  great  power  of  the 
negative  voice. 

This  document  was  formally  presented  on  the  2oth 
of  November  by  a  deputation  of  officers  headed  by 
a  colonel,  who  bore  a  brief  note  from  Fairfax,  still 
Lord  general  of  the  Army  and  acting  with  it,  ill 
at  ease,  however,  between  his  energetic  Presbyterian 
wife  without  and  his  own  predilections,  which  by  no 
means  favored  so  clean  a  sweep  of  the  old  order. 

The  Independents,  of  course,  welcomed  the  Remon- 
strance, but  the  more  resolute  Presbyterians,  conspic- 
uous among  whom  was  stout-hearted,  narrow-minded 
Prynne,  with  his  twice-cropped  ears,  declared  that 
"  it  became  not  the  House  of  Commons,  who  are  a 
part  of  the  Supreme  Council  of  the  Nation,  to  be 
prescribed  to,  or  regulated  and  baffled  by,  a  Council 
of  Sectaries  in  arms."  l  Strange  compound  that  he 
was  of  bigot,  bore,  and  hero,  one  cannot  refuse  ad- 

1  Parliamentary  History,  under  date. 


306  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY   VANE.  [1648. 

miration  at  this  time  to  him ;  for,  full  of  magnanimous 
self-forgetfulness,  he  was  the  boldest  of  those  now 
trying  to  block  the  path  of  the  all-conquering  Inde- 
pendents. He  pleaded  nobly  for  the  man  who  had 
done  him  only  injury.  "  All  the  royal  favor  I  ever 
yet  received  from  his  Majesty  or  his  party,  was  the 
cutting  off  of  my  ears,  at  two  several  times,  one  after 
another,  in  a  most  barbarous  manner ;  the  setting  me 
upon  three  several  pillories,  in  a  disgraceful  manner, 
for*  two  hours  at  a  time,  the  burning  of  my  licensed 
books  before  my  face,  by  the  hand  of  the  hangman, 
the  imposing  of  two  fines  upon  me  of  ,£5,000  apiece, 
the  loss  of  my  calling,  .  .  .  above  eight  years  im- 
prisonment, &c."  He  defied  the  Army,  now  in  the 
day  of  its  power,  the  tumult  of  whose  all-overwhelm- 
ing march  as  it  poured  itself  into  London  must  have 
rolled  into  St.  Stephen's  almost  to  the  drowning  of 
his  own  voice.  His  plea  was  for  peace  and  an  ac- 
commodation :  the  poor  fellow,  whom  Charles  and 
Laud  had  left  scarcely  more  than  a  mere  scrap  of 
humanity,  was  exalted  for  the  moment  beyond  him- 
self as  he  pleaded  for  his  persecutors. 

The  concessions  which  the  commissioners,  return- 
ing from  Wight,  reported  that  the  King  was  willing 
to  make,  were  no  greater  than  those  several  times 
before  rejected.  In  the  vehement  debate  as  to 
whether  or  no  they  should  be  accepted,  a  significant 
incident  took  place.  A  few  nobles  had  kept  pace 
all  along  with  the  most  liberal  avowals,  but  the  bold- 
est among  these  now  began  to  draw  back.  Nathaniel 
Fiennes,  son  of  Lord  Say  and  heir  to  his  title,  here- 
tofore thoroughly  with  the  Independents,  became  now 


1648.]     THE  IRONSIDES  TAKE  THINGS  IN  HAND.    307 

reactionary,  advocated  peace,  and  maintained  that 
the  King's  concessions  were  sufficient.  When  the 
commissioners  had  left  the  King  at  Wight,  Charles 
had  put  in  a  most  shrewd  word  to  the  nobles  among 
them :  "  My  Lords,  you  cannot  be  ignorant  that  in 
my  ruin  you  may  already  perceive  your  own,  and  that 
near  at  hand."  Lord  Say,  it  is  believed,  was  affected 
by  the  remark,  and  Fiennes,  remembering  his  title, 
recoiled  from  the  levelling  to  which  all  were  presently 
to  be  subjected. 

Cromwell  had  not  yet  returned  from  the  North, 
but  all  the  other  great  Independent  chiefs  were  there 
in  St.  Stephen's,  those  early  December  days:  St.  John, 
Marten,  Scott,  Ireton,  Blake,  Dean,  Ludlow,  Hutch- 
inson,  Haselrig,  Harrison,  Algernon  Sidney.  Pos- 
sibly in  the  gallery  may  have  been  John  Milton,  the 
pamphleteer,  and  his  cousin  Bradshaw,  the  famous 
lawyer  from  the  Inns  of  Court,  who  was  about  to  be 
called  to  play  a  memorable  part.  In  the  front  of 
these  as  chief  spokesman  stood  the  man  who  at 
Wight,  digging  below  the  mines  of  the  wily  Charles, 
had  run  his  counter-mines,  and  who,  now  that  plain 
and  downright  utterance  was  in  place,  was  determined 
that  the  word  should  be  forceful.  The  acceptance 
of  the  treaty  "was  early  pressed  in  Parliament  by 
many.  But  Sir  Henry  Vane  truly  stated  the  matter 
of  fact  relating  to  the  treaty,  and  so  evidently  dis- 
covered the  design  and  deceit  of  the  K's  answer  that 
he  made  it  clear  to  us,  that  by  it  the  justice  of  our 
cause  was  not  asserted  nor  our  rights  secured  for  the 
future."1  Clarendon's  picture  is  no  doubt  substan- 
tially correct. 

1  Ludlow,  i.  268. 


308  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1648. 

"  Young  Sir  Henry  Vane  had  begun  the  debate 
in  the  highest  insolence  and  provocation  ;  telling 
them  that  they  should  that  day  know  and  discover, 
who  were  their  friends,  &  who  were  their  foes ;  or, 
that  he  might  speak  more  plainly,  who  were  the 
King's  party  in  the  house,  and  who  were  for  the 
people  ;  and  so  proceeded  with  his  usual  grave  bit- 
terness against  the  person  of  the  King,  and  the  gov- 
ernment that  had  been  too  long  settled ;  put  them  in 
mind  that  they  had  been  diverted  from  this  old  set- 
tled resolution  and  declaration,  that  they  would  make 
no  more  addresses  to  the  King ;  after  which  the  King- 
dom had  been  governed  in  great  peace,  and  begun 
to  taste  the  sweet  of  that  Republican  government 
which  they  intended  and  had  begun  to  establish, 
when,  by  an  accommodation  between  the  city  of 
London  and  an  ill-affected  party  in  Scotland,  with 
some  small  contemptible  insurrections  in  England, 
all  which  were  fomented  by  the  city,  the  Houses 
had,  by  clamor  &  noise,  been  induced  &  compelled 
to  reverse  their  former  votes  &  resolution,  and  enter 
into  a  personal  treaty  with  the  King ;  with  whom 
they  had  not  been  able  to  prevail,  notwithstanding 
the  low  condition  he  was  in,  to  give  them  any  secu- 
rity ;  but  he  had  still  reserved  a  power  in  himself,  or 
at  least  to  his  posterity,  to  exercise  as  tyrannical  a 
government  as  he  had  done ;  that  all  the  insurrec- 
tions, which  had  so  terrified  them,  were  totally  sub- 
dued ;  and  the  principal  authors  and  abettors  of  them 
in  their  custody,  and  ready  to  be  brought  to  justice, 
if  they  pleased  to  direct  and  appoint  it :  that  their 
enemies  in  Scotland  were  reduced,  and  that  kingdom 


1648.]     THE  IRONSIDES  TAKE  THINGS  IN  HAND.     309 

entirely  devoted  to  a  firm  and  good  correspondence 
with  their  brethren,  the  Parliament  of  England;  so 
that  there  was  nothing  wanting,  but  their  own  con- 
sent and  resolution,  to  make  themselves  the  happiest 
nation  &  people  in  the  world ;  and  to  that  purpose 
desired,  that  they  might,  without  any  more  loss  of 
time,  return  to  their  former  resolution  of  making 
no  more  addresses  to  the  King;  but  proceed  to  the 
settling  of  the  government  without  him,  and  to  the 
severe  punishment  of  those  who  had  disturbed  their 
peace  and  quiet,  in  such  an  exemplary  manner  as 
might  terrify  all  other  men  for  the  future  from  mak- 
ing the  like  bold  attempts :  which,  he  told  them, 
they  might  see  would  be  most  grateful  to  their  Army, 
which  had  merited  so  much  from  them  by  the  remon- 
strance they  had  so  lately  published." 1 

Clarendon  continues  that  a  certain  murmur  showed 
this  speech  was  much  disliked,  and  that  many  blamed 
"  his  presumption  in  taking  upon  himself  to  divide 
the  House,  &  to  censure  their  affections  to  the  public, 
as  their  sense  &  judgment  should  agree  or  disagree, 
with  his  own."  Vane,  indeed,  did  not  prevail.  The 
victory  was  to  be  won  by  other  than  Parliamentary 
means.  The  debate  had  lasted  twenty -f pur  hours: 
it  was  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning  after  the  all  day 
and  all  night  struggle.  Two  hundred  and  forty-four 
members  were  still  present,  and  it  was  resolved,  140 
against  104,  that  the  King's  reply  was  an  adequate 
basis  for  peace. 

The  Independents  now  felt  that  the  crisis  was  ter- 
rible. The  King  would  be  in  London  at  once,  and 

1  Clarendon,  v.  2375,  etc. 


310  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1648. 

free,  and  all  that  they  had  fought  for  would  be  lost. 
They  met  the  danger  by  a  most  revolutionary  step, 
in  which  Ireton  seems  to  have  been  the  leading 
figure.  After  a  conference  of  Parliament  with  officers, 
in  which  if  Vane  was  present  his  influence  was  over- 
ruled, the  troops  were  put  in  motion  by  Ireton's 
orders,  without  Fairfax's  knowledge.  Only  one  day 
had  passed  since  the  decisive  vote,  but  with  all 
promptness  two  regiments,  one  of  infantry,  one  of 
cavalry,  took  their  station  at  the  doors  of  the  Par- 
liament, at  their  head  rough  Pride,  foundling,  dray- 
man, then  the  soldier  who  had  saved  the  centre  at 
Naseby  with  his  prompt  succor,  and  fought  with  the 
foremost  to  win  the  day  at  Preston.  He  held  a  list 
in  his  hand,  and  as  the  members  gathered,  he  forbade 
entrance  to  all  such  as  opposed  the  Army.  Forty- 
one  members  were  excluded  the  first  day,  still  more 
the  next,  one  hundred  and  forty-three  in  all.  The 
famous  "  Pride's  Purge  "  was  accomplished.  By  mil- 
itary force  the  Long  Parliament  was  cut  down  to  a 
fraction  of  its  number,  and  the  career  begins  of  the 
mighty  "  Rump,"  1  so  called  in  the  coarse  wit  of  the 
time  because  it  was  "  the  sitting  part."  On  Decem- 
ber 7,  after  the  Purge  had  been  accomplished,  Crom- 
well took  his  seat  for  the  first  time  since  the  warfare 
of  the  summer.  "  God  is  my  witness,"  he  cried 
everywhere,  "  that  I  know  nothing  of  what  has  been 
doing  in  this  House ;  but  the  work  is  in  hand ;  I  am 
glad  of  it,  and  now  we  must  carry  it  through." :  As 
the  Independents  "  carry  it  through,"  it  will  at  once 
appear  that  it  is  no  abuse  of  words  to  call  the  Eng- 

1  Rushworth,  vii.  1353-6.  2  Ludlow,  117. 


1648.]     THE  IRONSIDES  TAKE  THINGS  IN  HAND.     311 

land  they  sought  to  establish  AMERICAN-ENGLAND. 
Those  peerless  soldiers  and  statesmen  failed  in  what 
they  sought.  We  shall  see  how  insuperable  the  ob- 
stacles were  which  prevented  the  realization  of  their 
great  idea.  They  died  for  their  idea  in  multitudes, 
upon  scaffold  and  battlefield.  Their  generation  was 
not  worthy  of  them ;  but  no  cause  has  ever  been 
maintained  by  more  steadfast  striving,  or  possessed 
a  nobler  line  of  martyrs. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

THE    RUMP    AGAINST   THE    WORLD. 

"  I  CONFESS  I  was  exceedingly  to  seek  in  the  clear- 
ness of  my  judgment  as  to  the  trial  of  the  King.  I 
was  for  six  weeks  absent  from  my  seat  here,  out  of 
my  tenderness  of  blood."  So  spoke  young  Sir 
Henry  Vane  long  after  this  time.1  Pride's  Purge 
and  the  trial  and  execution  of  Charles  by  which  it 
was  immediately  followed,  seemed  to  him  unneces- 
sary violence.  As  to  Pride's  Purge,  it  is  hard  to 
see,  at  the  present  time,  what  other  course  it  was 
possible  for  the  Army  to  take  in  order  to  save  their 
cause.  Nothing  can  be  finer  at  any  rate  than  the 
manifestos  of  Army  and  Parliament  at  this  crisis,  for 
the  composition  of  which  Ireton  must  be  especially 
credited.  "  We  are  not,"  it  was  declared,  "  a  merce- 
nary Army,  hired  to  serve  any  arbitrary  power  of  the 
state,  but  called  forth  and  conjured  by  the  several 
declarations  of  Parliament  to  the  defence  of  our  own 
and  the  People's  just  rights  and  liberties ;  and  so  we 
took  up  in  justice  and  conscience  to  those  ends,  and 
are  resolved  ...  to  assert  and  vindicate  them  against 
all  arbitrary  power,  violence  and  oppression,  and  all 
particular  interests  and  parties  whatsoever."  These 

1  Speech,  9th  February,  1659. 


1 649-]         THE  RUMP  AGAINST   THE   WORLD.  313 

men  saw  everything  they  had  fought  for  endangered 
by  the  half-hearted  and  bigoted  Presbyterians,  and 
rather  than  lose  all,  they  thought  it  best  to  resort  to 
an  irregularity.  Vane  could  not  go  with  them  and 
withdrew  from  public  life. 

Since  Vane  had  no  part  in  matters,  there  is  no 
occasion  here  to  give  in  detail  the  end  of  the  King. 
The  High  Court  was  promptly  constituted,  with 
Bradshaw,  a  name  new  in  state  affairs,  though  famed 
then  as  a  lawyer,  as  presiding  officer.  That  Vane 
did  not  withdraw  to  a  distance  seems  certain.  "  It 
was  observed  that  young  Sir  Henry  Vane,  who  had 
long  absented  and  retyred  himself  by  scruple  of  con- 
science as  it  was  said,  came  again  and  sat  in  the 
House  of  Commons  on  Saturday,  2oth  of  January, 
the  day  that  the  King  was  first  brought  to  trial. ": 
Vane  was  not  alone  in  his  position  ;  St.  John  was 
with  him,  so  Fairfax.  Algernon  Sydney,  too,  writes  : 
"  I  was  at  Penshurst  when  the  act  for  the  King's  trial 
passed,  and  coming  up  to  town,  I  heard  that  my 
name  was  put  in.  I  presently  went  to  the  Painted 
Chamber,  where  those  who  were  nominated  for 
judges  were  assembled.  A  debate  was  raised,  and  I 
positively  opposed  the  proceeding.  Cromwell  using 
these  formal  words,  '  I  tell  you,  we  will  cut  off  his 
head  with  the  crown  on  it.'  I  replied,  '  You  may 
take  your  own  course ;  I  cannot  stop  you ;  but  I 
will  keep  myself  clear  from  having  any  hand  in  this 
business.'  And  saying  this,  I  immediately  left  them 
and  never  returned." 

No  hesitation  now.     Hapless  Charles  is  brought 

1  Leicester's  Journal  (Blencowe),  p.  54. 


3H  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1649. 

closely  guarded  to  Whitehall.  So  utterly  treacher- 
ous, so  incapable  of  forming  an  idea  of  the  people 
he  had  undertaken  to  rule,  yet  with  all  that,  having 
so  much  of  the  spirit  and  accomplishments  of  a 
gentleman !  What  need  to  tell  how  he  died !  There 
is  nothing  in  English  history  better  known.  He 
stepped  from  the  window  of  his  banqueting-hall  upon 
the  scaffold  with  a  tread  as  heroic  as  that  of  Straf- 
ford.  Those  who  slew  him  turned  toward  him  ten- 
derly; the  Independent  heart,  so  steadfast,  yet  so 
gentle,  voiced  itself  thus  afterward  in  the  verse  of 
Andrew  Marvell.1 

"  While  round  the  armed  bands 
Did  clap  their  bloody  hands, 

He  nothing  common  did  or  mean 

Upon  that  memorable  scene  ; 
But  with  his  keener  eye 
The  axe's  edge  did  try  : 

Nor  called  the  Gods  with  vulgar  spite 

To  vindicate  his  helpless  right ; 
But  bowed  his  comely  head 
Down  as  upon  a  bed." 

How  Vane  would  have  preferred  to  have  the 
King  disposed  of,  he  did  not  leave  on  record ;  but 
probably  deposition  seemed  to  him  more  expedient 
as  well  as  more  humane.  It  is  not  possible  now  to 
decide  whether  the  execution  was  good  policy,  though 
modern  writers  in  sympathy  with  the  Independents 
have  condemned  it  as  a  great  mistake.2  The  leaders 
were  in  a  position  of  terrible  embarrassment,  and  it 
is  curious  to  trace  a  parallel  between  the  conduct  of 

1  Panegyric  on  Cromwell. 

2  May:  Democracy  in  Europe,  ii.  436.     Godwin,  ii.  691,  692. 


1 649.]          THE  RUMP  AGAINST  THE    WORLD.  315 

Cromwell  and  that  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  when  sur- 
rounded by  embarrassments  of  similar  gravity.  As 
Lincoln  relieved  the  overpowering  tension  of  brain 
and  heart  by  conduct  which  often  was  sharply  cen- 
sured as  buffoonish,  telling  funny  stories,  slapping  his 
comrades  on  the  back,  bursting  into  a  backwoods- 
man's guffaw  as  he  sat  tilted  back  in  his  chair  with 
his  feet  on  the  mantelpiece,  so  Cromwell  relieved  the 
strain  upon  him  with  coarse  horse-play  that  from  that 
day  to  this  has  been  called  brutal  and  heartless.  His 
bout  of  cushion-throwing  with  Ludlow  in  the  anxi- 
eties of  the  previous  year  has  been  described.  So 
now  when  the  King's  death-warrant  was  signed  by 
the  Regicides,  there  was  a  curious  smearing  of  one 
another's  faces  with  ink,  —  a  sort  of  terrible  merri- 
ment in  which  Cromwell  led  the  way  with  hysterical 
laughter  that  one  feels  might  at  any  moment  have 
become  an  outburst  of  bitter  weeping. 

What  dangers  there  might  have  been,  if  recourse 
had  been  had  to  deposition !  With  what  restless 
energy  the  King  would  intrigue,  and  how  likely,  in 
the  swaying  of  the  tumultuous  time,  that  some  top- 
wave  would  toss  him  into  the  throne  again,  how- 
ever strong  his  prison-bars  !  No  doubt  all  this  was 
anxiously  weighed.  Among  the  Regicides,  Thomas 
Scott  was  a  spirit  most  eloquent  and  heroic,  and  long 
after  this  he  set  forth  how  the  matter  lay  in  the 
minds  of  that  resolute  band. 

"  Had  he  [Charles]  been  quiet  after  he  was  deliv- 
ered up  to  us  by  the  Scots!  ...  So  long  as  he 
was  above  ground,  in  view  there  were  daily  revoltings 
among  the  Army,  and  risings  in  all  places,  creating 


316  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1649. 

us  all  mischief,  more  than  a  thousand  Kings  could 
do  us  good,  it  was  impossible  to  continue  him  alive. 
.  .  .  It  was  resorted  unto  as  the  last  refuge.  The 
Representatives  in  their  aggregate  body,  have  power 
to  alter  or  change  any  government,  being  thus  con- 
ducted by  Providence.  The  question  was  whose 
[on  whom]  was  that  blood  that  was  shed?  It  could 
not  be  ours.  Was  it  not  the  King's,  by  keeping 
delinquents  from  punishment,  and  raising  armies  ? 
The  vindictive  justice  must  have  his  sacrifice  some- 
where. The  King  was  called  to  a  bar  below  to 
answer  for  that  blood.  We  did  not  assassinate  or 
do  it  in  a  corner.  We  did  it  in  the  face  of  God  and 
of  all  men.  If  this  be  not  a  precept,  the  good  of  the 
whole,  I  know  not  what  is  —  to  preserve  the  good 
cause,  a  defence  to  religion  and  tender  consciences."1 
The  beheading  of  the  King  might  well  seem  to  in- 
volve smaller  risks  to  their  cause  than  to  suffer  him 
to  live  ;  but  mark  the  result.  Immediately  a  mighty 
revulsion  of  feeling  took  place  in  favor  of  Charles, 
so  that  he  became  forthwith  a  hero  and  a  martyr, 
not  merely  to  his  own  party,  but  to  thousands  who 
had  been  his  enemies.  The  Eikon  Basilike  ap- 
peared at  once,  purporting  to  be  the  King's  spiritual 
autobiography,  one  of  the  most  influential  of  books, 
through  which  it  came  about  that  in  the  thoughts 
of  millions  Charles  stood  beatified,  in  an  odor  of 
sanctity  scarcely  less  indeed  than  that  which  sur- 
rounded Christ.  After  eleven  years  Charles  II  came 
back  amid  enthusiasm  so  intense  and  general  that 
he  blamed  himself  as  a  fool  for  not  having  come  back 

1  Forster,  Life  of  Marten,  385. 


1 649.]         THE  RUMP  AGAINST   THE    WORLD.  317 

before ;  and  in  that  interval  of  eleven  years,  after  a 
short  trial  of  the  Commonwealth,  no  political  arrange- 
ment seemed  possible  but  an  autocracy,  supported 
on  the  pikes  of  the  Ironsides,  maintained  only 
through  energy  and  ability  as  remarkable  as  have 
ever  been  shown  in  human  history. 

The  execution  was  most  disastrous  to  English  free- 
dom ;  but  who  can  say  that  any  other  course  would 
have  been  less  disastrous  ?  Those  who  claim  that  if 
the  King's  life  had  been  spared,  the  Stuarts  need 
never  have  come  back;  that  England  might  have  be- 
come a  Republic,  or  if  not  a  Republic,  that  monarchy 
would  have  appeared  in  a  shape  so  modified  as  to 
make  the  change  to  popular  government  an  easy  one, 
are  quite  too  confident.  What  was  the  best  course 
to  take  it  is  impossible  to  decide  now:  it  was  just 
as  hard  to  decide  then.  It  was  a  crisis  where  the 
best  heads  might  well  differ.  Here  for  the  first  time 
young  Sir  Henry  Vane,  and  the  great  figure  whom 
we  have  seen  rise  from  such  small  beginnings  until 
he  dominates  the  period  we  are  studying,  stand  op- 
posed to  one  another  in  judgment.  Cromwell  and 
Vane  are,  however,  still  friends. 

As  the  Commonwealth  took  the  place  of  the  mon- 
archy, it  seemed  to  be  felt  that  Vane  could  not  be 
spared,  and  he  was  besought  to  come  back.  It  was 
resolved  at  first  to  exact  an  oath  from  all  in  author- 
ity, approving  of  everything  which  had  been  done. 
Such  an  oath  Vane  refused  to  take ;  Pride's  Purge 
and  the  beheading  of  the  King  he  declared  to  be 
melancholy  blunders.  In  respect,  however,  to  the 
polity  which  it  was  proposed  to  establish  he  was  in 


318  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1649. 

accord,  and  was  willing  to  lend  his  abilities  to  carry 
it  out  To  gain  such  a  helper,  the  oath  was  given 
up.1  Vane  pronouncing  openly  his  condemnation  of 
the  past,  reappeared  at  Westminster  February  26th, 
and  soon  stood  in  a  position  of  influence  more 
marked  than  ever  before. 

What  were  the  ideas  with  which  this  wonderful 
"  Rump,"  still  the  Long  Parliament,  though  purged, 
began  its  career  ?  It  will  be  felt,  as  they  are  stated, 
that  no  ideas  can  be  in  a  finer  sense  American.  The 
4th  of  January  may  be  set  down  as  the  beginning  of 
the  new  order  of  things.  That  day 2  it  was  -  resolved 
by  the  little  company  now  left  in  the  great  empti- 
ness of  St.  Stephen's,  for  not  only  were  the  excluded 
members  absent,  but  many  timid  ones,  "  That  the 
Commons  of  England  in  Parliament  assembled  do 
declare,  that  the  People  are,  under  God,  the  original 
of  all  just  power ;  and  do  also  declare,  that  the  Com- 
mons of  England  in  Parliament  assembled,  being 
chosen  by  and  representing  the  People,  have  the 
supreme  power  in  this  nation ;  and  do  also  declare, 
that  whatsoever  is  enacted  or  declared  for  law,  by 
the  Commons  in  Parliament  assembled,  hath  the 
force  of  a  law,  and  all  the  People  of  this  nation  are 
concluded  thereby,  although  the  consent  and  con- 
currence of  the  King  or  House  of  Peers,  be  not  had 
thereto." 

A  declaration  was  received  from  the  Army  on  Jan- 
uary 1 5th,  the  day  the  charge  was  read  against  the 
King.  The  Army  urged:  "That  having  since  the 

1  Vane's  Speech  at  trial.  2  Commons  Journal. 


1 649-]  THE  RUMP  AGAINST   THE    WORLD.  319 

end  of  the  last  war  waited  for  a  settlement  of  the 
peace  and  government  of  this  nation :  and  having  not 
found  any  such  essayed  or  endeavored  by  those  whose 
proper  work  it  was,  but  their  many  addresses  and 
others  in  that  behalf,  rejected  and  opposed,  and  only 
a  corrupt  closure  endeavored  with  the  King  on  terms 
serving  only  to  his  interests  and  theirs  that  promoted 
it,  and  being  thereupon  .  .  .  necessitated  to  take  ex- 
traordinary ways  of  remedy,  they  have  at  last  finished 
the  draught  of  such  a  settlement  in  the  nature  of  an 
Agreement  of  the  People  for  peace  among  them- 
selves, it  containing  the  best  and  most  hopeful  foun- 
dations for  the  peace  and  future  well  government  of 
this  nation,  that  they  can  possibly  devise.  And  they 
appeal  to  the  consciences  of  all  that  read  it,  to  wit- 
ness whether  they  have  therein  provided  or  pro- 
pounded anything  of  advantage  to  themselves  .  .  . 
above  others,  or  aught  but  what  is  as  good  for  one 
as  for  another ;  not  doubting  but  that  those  worthy 
patriots  of  Parliament  will  give  their  seal  of  approba- 
tion thereunto,  and  all  good  people  with  them.  But 
if  God  shall  suffer  the  People  ...  to  be  so  blinded 
...  as  to  make  opposition  thereto,  .  .  .  they  hope 
they  shall  be  acquitted  before  God  &  good  men  from 
the  blame  of  any  further  troubles,  distractions,  and 
miseries  to  the  kingdom,  which  may  arise  through 
the  neglect  and  rejection  thereof."  x 

On  the  2Oth  the  "  Agreement  of  the  People  "  was 
formally  presented.  It  has  the  name  and  many  of 
the  ideas  of  the  manifesto  of  the  Agitators,  in  the 
fall  of  1647.  It  nas  become  now  a  detailed  and 

1  Rushworth,  vii.  1392. 


320  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1649. 

definite  scheme  of  government  on  which  we  can  well 
afford  to  dwell. 

In  1647,  Ireton,  to  whom  the  bold  and  masterly 
elaboration  was  for  the  most  part  due,  had  not  been 
ready  for  so  radical  a  step,  and  had  left  the  council 
abruptly,  as  we  have  seen,  at  the  suggestion  of  laying 
by  the  King;  but  in  the  Army  now,  rank  and  file 
and  chiefs  stood  together.  The  paper  consisted  of 
ten  articles.  Art.  I  demands  the  dissolution  of  the 
present  Parliament  by  the  end  of  April,  1649.  Art. 
II,  assuming  that  the  supreme  power  in  England  is 
thenceforth  to  be  a  single  representative  House,  de- 
clares that  every  such  future  "  Representative  "  shall 
consist  of  four  hundred  members,  or  not  more,  and 
distributes  these  with  great  care,  among  the  shires, 
cities,  and  boroughs  of  England  and  Wales.  York- 
shire is  to  send  twenty  members ;  Devonshire,  seven- 
teen ;  Middlesex,  fourteen ;  Cornwall,  enormously 
over-represented  hitherto,  eight ;  and  so  on  until  we 
reach  the  small  counties  of  Rutland  and  Flint,  which 
have  but  one  each.  It  is  worth  while  to  specify  to 
some  extent  in  order  to  see  how  remarkably  the  re- 
forms of  1832  were  anticipated.  Art.  Ill  gives  the 
time  of  meeting  and  defines  the^qualifications  of  the 
electors  and  the  eligible.  The  electors  are  to  be  all 
men  of  full  age  and  householders,  except  paupers 
and  (for  the  first  seven  years)  armed  adherents  of  the 
King  in  the  late  wars.  The  eligible  are  to  be  those 
qualified  as  electors,  with  restrictions  designed  to  keep 
out  for  the  first  few  Parliaments  the  King's  partisans. 
Art.  IV  considers  the  matter  of  a  quorum.  Art.  V 
is  very  important,  requiring  every  Parliament,  within 


1 649.]          THE  RUMP  AGAINST   THE    WORLD.  321 

twenty  days  of  its  first  meeting,  to  appoint  a  Coun- 
cil of  State,  to  be  the  acting  ministry  or  government 
in  cooperation  with  itself,  and  also  in  the  interval 
between  it  and  the  next  Parliament.  Passing  over 
Arts.  VI,  VII,  VIII,  as  relatively  unimportant,  in  Art. 
IX  we  find  the  relation  in  which  the  government  is 
to  stand  to  the  Church.  Christianity,  it  is  hoped, 
will  be  the  permanent  national  religion :  Parliament 
may  establish  any  form  of  church  not  Popish  or 
prelatic  ;  dissenters  are,  however,  to  be  tolerated  and 
protected,  the  liberty  nevertheless  not  "  necessarily 
to  extend,  to  Popery  or  Prelacy."  Art.  X  defines 
treason  and  indicates  what  in  the  preceding  articles 
shall  be  held  as  essential. 

Except  the  IXth  article,  relating  to  the  religious 
establishment,  which  judged  by  modern  ideas  is  nar- 
row, there  is  nothing  here  not  most  thoroughly 
American.  Ireton  himself,  like  Cromwell  and  Vane, 
was  ready  for  the  broadest  toleration,  including  even 
Jews,  Infidels,  and  Pagans ;  but  even  in  the  Rump 
there  were  prejudices  that  must  be  humored.  On 
the  6th  of  February  it  was  resolved : 1  "  /That  the 
House  of  Peers  in  Parliament  is  useless  and  danger- 
ous, and  ought  to  be  abolished ; "  and  on  the  follow- 
ing day,  "  that  the  office  of  King  ...  is  unnecessary, 
burdensome,  and  dangerous  to  the  liberty,  safety, 
and  public  interest  of  the  People  of  this  nation,  and 
therefore  ought  to  be  abolished."  The  old  order 
was  thus  completely  swept  away,  and  England  was 
to  be  a  Republic.  The  English  reforms  already 
gained  in  the  igth  century,  and  still  in  progress  at 

1  Commons  Journal. 


322  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1649. 

the  present  hour,  were  all  anticipated :  all,  too,  that 
is  most  essential  in  the  American  system  had  been 
formulated.  The  question  now  was,  could  the  Re- 
public, the  Commonwealth^  be  sustained. 

The  case  did  indeed  seem  a  desperate  one.  The 
Commonwealth  had  been  set  up  by  about  sixty 
men  at  the  centre  who  never  had  more  need  to 
be  Ironsides  than  then.  Only  two  sevenths  of  the 
people  of  England  could  be  counted  upon  to  sus- 
tain them.  The  Presbyterians,  who  once  had  been 
so  zealous  against  the  King,  hated  the  Sectaries 
at  least  equally.  The  Cavaliers  —  Episcopalians  and 
Catholics  —  were,  of  course,  bitterly  hostile.  This 
vast  opposition  for  the  time  was  smitten  into  silence 
by  the  Independent  triumph  of  the  preceding  sum- 
mer, but  all  knew  that  it  was  waiting  in  sullenness  for 
its  opportunity.  Fortunately  the  opposition,  at  bitter 
discord  in  itself,  could  not  unite  against  its  enemies. 
Not  the  smallest  of  the  difficulties  of  the  Republi- 
cans was  one  arising  from  the  more  violent  members 
of  their  own  party.  In  particular,  trouble  flowed 
from  that  most  intrepid  and  uncompromising  come- 
outer  John  Lilburne,  and  a  picturesque  account  of 
a  stormy  scene  comes  down  to  us  from  his  own  hand, 
when  he  and  three  associates,  equally  uncompromis- 
ing, were  brought  before  the  Independent  chiefs.1 
"  I  marched  into  the  room,"  he  says,  "  with  my  hat 
on ;  but  looking,  I  saw  divers  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons present,  and  so  I  put  it  off."  He  refused  to 
acknowledge  their  authority,  and  when  a  prison  was 
threatened,  solemnly  protested,  "  before  the  Eternal 

1  Masson,  iv.  46  etc. 


1649.]          THE  RUMP  AGAINST  THE    WORLD.  323 

God  of  Heaven  and  Earth,  I  will  fire  it  and  burn  it 
down  to  the  ground  if  I  possibly  can,  although  I  be 
burnt  to  ashes  with  the  flames  thereof.  .  .  .  After 
we  were  all  come  out,  and  all  four  in  a  room  close 
by  them  all  alone,  I  laid  my  ear  to  the  door,  and 
heard  Lieut,  general  Cromwell  (I  am  sure  of  it)  very 
loud,  thumping  his  fist  upon  the  Council  table  till  it 
rang  again,  and  heard  him  speak  in  these  very  words, 
or  to  this  effect :  '  I  tell  you,  Sir,  you  have  no  other 
way  to  deal  with  these  men  but  to  break  them  in 
pieces.'  Upon  which  discourse  of  Cromwell's,  the 
blood  ran  up  and  down  in  my  veins,  and  I  heartily 
wished  myself  in  again  amongst  them  (being  scarce 
able  to  contain  myself),  that  so  I  might  have  gone 
five  or  six  storeys  higher  than  I  did  before." 

Such  was  the  state  of  things  in  England.  How 
was  it  elsewhere  ?  In  Ireland,  the  Marquis  of  Or- 
mond  had  succeeded  in  uniting  the  Catholic  and 
Protestant  Royalists,  forming  a  power  which  rose 
most  threateningly  against  the  Independents.  The 
Presbyterians,  though  not  coalescing  with  Papists 
and  Prelatists,  were  equally  violent  against  the  new 
order,  and  scarcely  standing-ground  was  left  in  the 
island  for  the  "  Honest  Party."  In  Scotland,  matters 
were  even  darker.  At  the  time  of  the  King's  execu- 
tion, Scotch  commissioners  had  been  sent  to  London, 
instructed  by  Argyle,  who  since  the  battle  of  Preston 
had  been  in  the  ascendancy,  to  take  advice  from 
friends  in  England.  "  Who  those  friends  at  Lon- 
don were,  can  be  understood  of  no  other  men  but 
Cromwell  and  young  Sir  Harry  Vane,  with  whom 


\ 


324  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1649. 

Argyle  held  close  correspondence." 1  When  the  head 
of  the  King  fell,  however,  all  Scotland,  with  Argyle 
at  the  head,  rose  in  horror.  Whatever  distractions 
had  existed,  there  was  a  universal  revulsion  of  feeling 
toward  the  Stuarts.  Almost  as  soon  as  the  news 
of  the  execution  was  received  Charles  II  was  pro- 
claimed, February  5,  at  the  cross  of  Edinburgh,  and 
invited  to  come  to  Scotland  at  once  from  his  place 
of  refuge  in  Holland.  Such  was  the  aspect  of  affairs 
at  home,  and  abroad  what  could  the  Independents 
expect,  but  a  world  in  arms  ? 

No  stouter  battle  has  ever  been  fought  in  this 
world  than  that  of  this  little  knot  of  Republican, 
one  might  say  American  Englishmen,  against  this 
enormous  odds.  A  desperate  unhesitating  course 
was  the  only  one  possible,  and  it  was  at  once  entered 
upon  with  a  skill  and  vigor  not  surpassed  in  the 
annals  of  men.  Pass  in  review  for  a  moment  the  five 
or  six  giants  who  stand  now  at  the  guiding  lines. 
That  Cromwell  was  preeminent  must  be,  of  course, 
admitted,  but  it  must  be  remembered  that  as  yet  he 
had  by  no  means  arrived  at  the  fame  which  set  him 
on  a  pinnacle.  In  these  days  Vane  was  scarcely  less 
a  name  of  might ;  and  the  deep-thinking  Ireton,  his 
face  seamed  with  the  scar  of  Naseby,  was  a  power. 
Sir  Arthur  Haselrig,  who  had  led  his  "  lobsters  "  in 
many  a  sharp  field,  served  now  in  the  saddle,  now  in 
command  of  a- fortress;  —  again,  with  articulated  shell 
and  sword  and  lance-antennae  laid  aside,  on  the  floor 
of  Parliament,  —  a  blunderer,  but  honest,  forceful, 
and  devoted.  Noble  champions  from  the  field,  also, 

1  Clarendon,  v.  2433. 


1649-]          THE  RUMP  AGAINST   THE   WORLD.  325 

were  Scott,  Hutchinson,  Blake,  Dean,  Ludlow,  and 
Sidney.  Devil-may-care  Harry  Marten,  too,  was 
never  absent ;  sometimes  setting  St.  Stephen's  in 
a  roar,  sometimes  circumventing  a  difficulty  by  a 
dexterous  expedient.  This  bright,  indefatigable,  in- 
trepid radical,  the  only  one,  except  Cromwell,  in  this 
stern  company  in  whom  there  stuck  a  trace  of  hu- 
mor, must  have  afforded  by  his  companionship  a 
relief  most  grateful  and  salutary  under  that  dismal 
sky.  "  He  was  exceedingly  happy  in  apt  instances  ; 
he  alone  hath  sometimes  turned  the  whole  house. 
Making  an  invective  speech  one  time  against  Old 
Sir  Harry  Vane,  when  he  had  done  with  him,  he 
sayd,  '  But  for  Young  Sir  Harry  Vane  '  —  and  so 
sate  him  down.  Several  cryed  out :  '  What  have  you 
to  say  to  Young  Sir  Harry?  '  He  rises  up:  'Why 
if  Young  Sir  Harry  lives  to  be  old,  he  will  be  Old 
Sir  Harry,'  and  so  sate  down  and  set  the  whole 
House  to  laughing,  as  he  often  did."1  To  those  men- 
tioned, the  names  of  Whitlocke  and  Bradshaw  must 
be  added,  lawyers  of  weight,  the  former  of  whom, 
though  time-serving  rather  than  heroic  in  nature, 
now  rendered  great  service  by  helping  to  keep  the 
legal  traditions  unbroken,  while  the  latter,  having 
been  President  of  the  High  Court  of  Justice  that 
condemned  the  King,  was  to  play  a  prominent  part 
in  the  years  to  come. 

How  did  the  "  Honest  Party  "  set  to  work  to  main- 
tain themselves  in  the  midst  of  their  perils  ?  Acting 
precisely  in  the  spirit  of  Abraham  Lincoln's  homely 
proverb,  that  it  is  not  well  to  swap  horses  while  cross- 

1  Anthony  a  Wood  :  A  thence  Oxon.,  art.  "  Marten,"  iii.  1243. 


326  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1649. 

ing  streams,  they  resolved  to  face  their  perils  under 
the  old  order,  deferring  for  the  moment  the  carry- 
ing out  of  the  idea  of  Ireton,  the  election  of  the 
new  Parliament.  The  purged  Long  Parliament,  the 
"  Rump,"  was  maintained,  the  expediency  of  the 
measure  being  wittily  illustrated  by  Henry  Marten 
in  a  parable  in  those  days  very  famous.1  When  the 
child  Moses,  he  said,  was  found  by  the  daughter  of 
Pharaoh  in  the  ark  of  bulrushes,  and  she  wanted  a 
nurse  for  it,  to  whom  but  the  child's  own  mother  was 
the  office  entrusted !  Better,  then,  that  the  baby 
Commonwealth  should  be  nursed  for  a  while  by  those 
who  had  brought  it  into  being. 

But  though  the  election  of  a  new  Parliament  was 
for  the  present  postponed,  another  important  feature 
of  Ireton's  plan  was  at  once  adopted,  —  the  Council 
of  State.  This  was  decided  upon  February  7.  As  at 
length  constituted,  it  included  forty-one  members,  of 
whom  nine  were  a  quorum,  and  its  first  meeting  was 
on  February  1 7.  As  Vane  was  drawn  forth  from  his 
retirement,  he  at  once  was  placed  here.  We  first 
find  his  name  in  the  record  on  the  23d,  and  thence- 
forth throughout  the  continuance  of  the  Common- 
wealth, he,  more  than  any  other  one  man,  was  the  soul 
of  that  body.  How  great  was  Vane's  influence  ap- 
pears in  an  early  record  of  the  Council,  April  16, 
1649.  Though  Cromwell,  Fairfax,  Ludlow,  Marten, 
and  other  leaders  are  present,  the  business  considered 
is  comparatively  unimportant,  as  if  some  one  were 
waited  for.  Vane  enters  late,  and  at  once  the  delib- 
erations take  on  a  different  character.  A  matter  is 

1  Masson,  iv.  40.     Godwin,  iii.  117.     Clarendon,  vi.  2692. 


I649-]          THE  RUMP  AGAINST   THE   WORLD.  327 

forthwith  brought  up  of  the  utmost  gravity,  which 
led,  in  fact,  in  the  end  to  a  war  with  Spain.  Probably 
the  case  had  been  referred  to  him  to  be  reported 
upon  :  his  weight  is  plainly  seen.1 

It  must  be  carefully  noted  that  Vane  takes  up 
Republicanism  only  hesitatingly :  to  the  end  of  his 
career  the  traditions  of  England  have  power  over  him. 
Had  he  been  able,  he  would  have  saved  the  Mon- 
archy, and  in  some  form  the  House  of  Lords,  estab- 
lishing some  such  order  as  that  indicated  in  the 
"  Heads  of  Proposals,"  which,  in  1647,  he,  with 
Cromwell  and  Ireton,  had  tried  to  induce  Charles  to 
adopt.  King  and  Peers  were  obstinate,  and  there 
was  nothing  for  it  but  to  sweep  them  away.  The 
People  must  be  supreme :  that  had  become  Vane's 
fixed  political  faith :  in  virtue  of  that  principle  he 
was  a  Republican  :  the  King  to  be  servant  not  Sov- 
ereign, and  with  no  title  but  the  popular  assent  to 
his  elevation ;  the  Peers,  ministers  of  the  People, 
in  no  sense  their  masters.  Their  necks  were  stiff, 
and  there  was  no  way  but  to  trample  them  under 
foot ;  but  to  his  dying  day  Vane  had  a  yearning  for 
the  ancient  order,  which  at  the  present  moment  was 
so  completely  overswept  and  superseded. 

Since  Vane  stood  in  such  relation  to  this  famous 
Council  of  State,  the  career  of  which  was  destined  to 
be  very  glorious,  we  must  study  it  somewhat  closely. 
Now  that  the  old  state  of  things  had  disappeared, 
the  whole  executive  government  was  represented  by 
the  one  single  word  "  Committee." 2  In  those  times 

1  Bisset,  i.  98  etc. 

2  Calendar  of  State  Papers,  Mrs.  M.  A.  E.  Greene,  Domestic  series, 
1649-50. 


328  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY   VANE.  [1649. 

of  danger,  all  were  anxious  to  avoid  responsibility, 
and  apart  from  the  Army  and  Navy,  no  man  accepted 
office  other  than  as  a  member  of  some  committee. 
The  Council  of  State,  elected  by  Parliament  annually, 
was  virtually  a  great  committee  of  the  Rump,  which 
bestowed  upon  it  powers  almost  plenary.  As  Parlia- 
ment now  had  but  eighty  members,  of  whom  not 
threescore  were  commonly  present,  the  Council  of 
State,  with  its  forty-one  members,  all  of  whom  were 
in  Parliament  but  three,  commanded  a  working  ma- 
jority of  the  House.  The  Council  in  fact  was  an 
expedient  for  combining  in  compact  shape  all  that 
was  ablest  among  the  Independents  for  effective 
work.  Though  they  refer  perpetually  to  Parliament, 
it  is  not  by  way  of  appeal  as  to  an  independent  gov- 
erning power,  but  from  themselves  as  a  newly  con- 
stituted power,  to  themselves  with  some  additions 
constituting  the  Long  Parliament.  The  Council  suc- 
ceeded the  Derby  House  Committee,  as  that  had 
succeeded  the  Committee  of  Two  Kingdoms,  and  its 
first  place  of  meeting  was  that  same  Derby  House 
in  Canon  Row  in  which  Pym  six  years  before  had 
died :  soon  after,  however,  Whitehall  became  the 
locality.  Bradshaw  became  the  presiding  officer,  and 
the  secretary  was  the  same  Gualter  Frost  who  had 
served  in  that  capacity  the  Derby  House  Committee. 
For  some  unexplained  reason  Ireton  was  not  a  mem- 
ber ;  in  the  early  weeks  Cromwell  was  of  course  the 
predominant  figure.  Besides  Cromwell,  Vane,  and 
Bradshaw,  we  find  on  the  Council  men  we  have 
learned  to  know  well,  Fairfax,  Skippon,  Haselrig,  St. 
John,  Whitlocke,  Hutchinson,  Ludlow,  Marten,  and 


I649-]          THE  RUMP  AGAINST   THE    WORLD.  329 

Scott.  They  met  at  different  times  from  the  Parlia- 
ment that  the  members  might  be  present  at  each. 
They  often  came  together  at  daylight,  and  one  can 
imagine  the  serious  figures  so  gravely  weighted,  walk- 
ing up  under  their  steeple-hats  from  Whitehall  to 
Westminster,  through  narrow  King  Street,  then  back 
again  with  little  respite,  after  the  session  at  St.  Ste- 
phen's was  over.  At  the  Council  there  were  often 
present  but  few  more  than  the  quorum  of  nine,  and 
seldom  as  many  as  twenty-five. 

On  the  1 5th  of  March,  John  Milton  was  appointed 
"  Secretary  for  Foreign  Tongues  "  to  the  Council,  his 
work  being  to  conduct  correspondence  in  the  Latin 
language,  then  the  diplomatic  medium,  to  which  was 
afterwards  added  the  preparation  of  controversial 
pamphlets.  Milton  was  now  forty  years  old,  and  had 
just  published  the  "  Tenure  of  Kings  and  Magis- 
trates," which  the  "  Defensio  Populi  Anglicani  "  was 
soon  to  follow.  He  was  the  first  Englishman  of 
mark  who  had  adhered  to  the  new  order,  and  his  fine 
powers  and  accomplishments  were  now  put  to  use. 
He  was  invited  immediately  by  the  Committee  of 
Alliances,  one  of  the  several  into  which  the  Council 
was  divided,  and  of  which  Vane  was  a  member.  Mil- 
ton's home  at  this  time  was  in  High  Holborn,  near 
Great  Turnstile,  the  back  of  the  house  opening  upon 
Lincoln's  Inn  Fields,  still  so  quiet  and  pleasant  there 
in  the  heart  of  London,  as  one  makes  his  way  through 
the  lawyers'  quarters  to  Fetter  Lane  ;  and  it  is  quite 
probable,  thinks  Masson,  that  it  was  Vane  who  sought 
Milton  out  here,  with  news  of  his  appointment. 

This  was  the  machinery  then  at  the  centre  with 


33O  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1649. 

which  a  very  extraordinary  result  was  to  be  accom- 
plished. There  has  never  been  in  the  world  finer 
leadership,  never  probably  a  finer  military  force,  the 
forty-four  thousand  three  hundred  and  seventy-three 
Ironsides,  troopers  and  infantry  seasoned  in  the 
fiercest  campaigns.  Without  a  moment's  hesitation 
the  work  of  firmly  establishing  freedom  and  toler- 
ance was  taken  in  hand.  Nothing  was  done  for  re- 
venge. A  few  of  the  leading  friends  of  Charles, 
whose  lives  could  not  with  safety  be  spared,  followed 
their  royal  master  to  the  scaffold  within  a  few  weeks, 
among  them  the  Duke  of  Hamilton,  who  had 
marched  so  proudly  past  Carlisle  to  meet  his  doom 
at  Preston.  More  interesting  was  Lord  Capel,  the 
first  man  who  in  the  Long  Parliament  rose  to  com- 
plain of  the  grievances  inflicted  by  the  King,  a  figure 
worthy  to  be  placed  by  the  side  of  Falkland.  Like 
Falkland,  though  at  first  in  the  party  of  freedom,  he 
had  chosen  dispiritedly  the  side  of  the  King,  as  the 
least  of  the  two  evils,  had  fought  desperately  in  the 
defence  of  Colchester,  and  made  it  impossible  for 
the  Honest  Party  to  spare  him.  "  He  behaved  much 
after  the  manner  of  a  stout  Roman.  He  had  no 
minister  with  him,  nor  showed  any  sense  of  death 
approaching;  but  carried  himself  all  the  time  he  was 
upon  the  scaffold  with  that  boldness  and  resolution  as 
was  to  be  admired.  He  wore  a  sad-colored  suit,  his 
hat  cocked-up,  and  his  cloak  thrown  under  one  arm : 
he  looked  toward  the  people  at  his  first  coming  up 
and  put  off  his  hat  in  manner  of  a  salute ;  he  had  a 
little  discourse  with  some  gentlemen,  and  passed  up 
and  down  in  a  careless  posture." 1 

1  Whitlocke,  ii.  55,  Oxford  edition,  1853. 


1 649.]  THE  RUMP  AGAINST   THE   WORLD.  331 

With  the  Levellers,  the  foes  of  their  own  house- 
hold, the  Tolerationists  dealt  sternly  but  humanely. 
Whether  or  not  they  had  in  mind  Roger  Williams's 
parable,  that  though  a  ship's  company  may  be  al- 
lowed to  pray  as  they  like,  they  must  not  embarrass 
the  working  of  the  ship,  and  in  case  of  danger  must 
work  manfully  at  the  pumps,  they  acted  in  its  spirit. 
Lilburne  and  his  fellow-growlers  were  closely  impris- 
oned ;  and  when  in  the  Army  a  mutinous  spirit  exhib- 
ited itself  dangerously,  Fairfax,  not  yet  retired,  and 
Cromwell  swept  the  discontent  swiftly  out  of  sight, 
with  a  little  blood-letting  and  all  possible  tact. 

When  the  dangers  close  at  hand  were  disposed  of, 
the  remoter  perils  were  instantly  faced.  Twelve  thou- 
sand horse  and  foot  were  made  ready  for  Ireland,  and 
Cromwell  was  put  at  the  head.  It  had  now  become 
vital  to  have  an  efficient  fleet ;  but  while  the  Army 
was  so  formidable,  the  Navy  scarcely  existed.  The 
sailors  generally  were  for  the  King.  Many  had  re- 
volted and  carried  their  ships  across  to  Charles  II 
in  Holland,  while  in  the  crews  that  remained  disaffec- 
tion prevailed  dangerously.  How  was  a  front  to  be 
made  ?  Rupert,  now  turned  sailor,  and  equally  enter- 
prising whether  at  the  head  of  a  squadron  of  horse 
or  of  men-of-war,  hung  threateningly  in  St.  George's 
Channel.  Charles  II  in  Holland  had  a  formidable 
fleet,  to  which  at  any  moment  might  be  added  power 
from  France  or  Spain.  Almost  the  first  act  of  the 
Council  of  State  was  to  appoint  three  tried  warriors, 
generals  of  the  fleet,  Popham,  Dean,  and  most  im- 
portant of  all,  the  brave  defender  of  Taunton  in  1645, 
Robert  Blake.  Upon  Vane's  coming  into  the  Coun- 


332  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY   VANE.  [1649. 

cil,  he  became,  March  I2th,  a  member  of  the  Com- 
mittee for  the  Navy,  and  was  at  once  the  leading 
spirit,  exhibiting  forthwith  a  genius  for  administration 
which  is  perhaps  the  most  impressive  manifestation 
of  his  ability,  and  was  a  factor  of  immense  weight  in 
bringing  about  the  most  extraordinary  triumphs  re- 
corded in  English  history.  Vane  was  also  a  member 
of  the  committee  to  "  consider  alliances,"  and  hence- 
forth throughout  the  Commonwealth l  was  the  fore- 
most man  in  all  dealing  with  foreign  powers,  whether 
hostile  or  friendly. 

Another  immensely  important  piece  of  work  which 
Vane  was  set  to  do,  was  to  determine  the  time  when 
the  babe  could  be  taken  out  of  its  mother's  keeping, 
when  the  fostering  care  of  the  Rump  could  be  dis- 
pensed with,  and  the  new  constitution  be  committed 
to  the  guidance  of  a  new  Parliament ;  to  determine 
also  the  details  of  the  new  order,  which  in  Ireton's 
"  Agreement  of  the  People  "  had  been  only  generally 
outlined.  After  some  preliminary  discussion,  which 
Vane  seems  to  have  initiated  and  guided,  on  the 
1 3th  of  May,  Vane,  Ireton,  Scott,  Rich,  Sidney,  and 
four  more  were  made  a  standing  committee  to  "  pre- 
sent heads  to  the  House "  proper  for  deliberation. 
Wednesdays  and  Fridays  were  the  days  set  for  their 
sessions,  and  henceforth  through  the  Commonwealth 
this  committee  is  anxiously  at  work,  with  Vane  for 
chairman.  Evidence  abounds  that  he  was  constantly 
uneasy  at  the  anomalous  condition  of  affairs,  and 

1  The    Commonwealth,  strictly    Cromwell  made   himself  autocrat 
speaking,  may  be  regarded  as  ter-    and  established  the  Protectorate, 
minating    April    20,    1653,    when 


1649]  THE  RUMP  AGAINST   THE    WORLD.          333 

anxiously  looked  forward  to  the  time  when  the 
power  could  be  given  freely  and  fully  to  the  People. 
Ireton  was  soon  absorbed  by  service  in  the  field  at 
a  distance.  Vane,  at  the  centre,  was  always  present 
at  the  meetings  of  the  Committee,  and  the  dominant 
mind  beyond  all  comparison. 

Following  the  Journal  of  the  Commons  and  of  the 
Council  of  State,  one  gets  an  idea  of  the  intense  and 
well  applied  energy  of  these  resolute  and  able  Com- 
monwealthsmen.  The  Commons'  Journals  are  printed : 
the  Order-Books  of  the  Council  of  State  remain  still 
in  manuscript  in  the  Record  Office  in  Fetter  Lane 
in  the  handwriting  of  Gualter  Frost,  the  secretary, 
the  "  draft "  containing  his  jottings  during  the  ses- 
sions, made  while  the  discussions  were  sounding  in 
his  ears,  —  the  "  fair  "  containing  his  careful  reduc- 
tion of  the  first  notes,  made  at  leisure  after  the  ses- 
sion was  concluded.  It  is,  to  be  sure,  but  a  meagre 
record,  a  noting  of  the  orders,  with  little  hint  of  the 
debates  by  which  they  must  have  been  accompanied. 
But  an  air  from  the  ancient  rooms  in  Derby  House 
and  in  Whitehall  seems  to  blow  upon  the  searcher, 
out  of  the  books.  The  hand  that  wrote  the  faded 
lines  had  just  before  touched  those  of  Cromwell, 
of  Vane,  or  of  Milton,  —  majestic  presences  sitting 
close  at  hand  during  the  writing.  The  eyes  of  those 
men  must  have  often  followed  down  these  pages,  as 
they  refreshed  their  memories  upon  points  of  past 
business.  As  regards  these  Order-Books  of  the 
Council  of  State,  the  searcher  is  freed  from  one 
embarrassment  that  besets  him  in  the  case  of  the 
Order-Books  of  the  Derby  House  Committee  and 


334  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1649. 

that  of  the  Two  Kingdoms.  There  is  now  but  one 
Sir  Harry  Vane.  Old  Sir  Harry  Vane,  though  still 
in  Parliament,  and  bustling  there,  is  no  longer  of  the 
select  Council.  One  must  not  forget,  in  speaking  of 
these  Order-Books,  to  mention  the  service  to  the 
searcher  of  the  "  Calendars,"  carefully  prepared  ab- 
stracts of  the  records,  which  give  the  clue  to  all  that 
is  most  important  in  them. 

Attempting  now  to  get  some  clear  and  close  idea 
of  young  Sir  Harry's  life  in  these  days,  let  the 
reader  note  the  following  things  in  the  records  of 
Parliament  and  Council,  with  a  scrap  now  and  then 
from  elsewhere.  On  the  22d  and  2Qth  of  January, 
1649,  young  Sir  Harry  Vane's  name  occurs  as 
appointed  on  Parliamentary  committees,  and  his 
name  occurs  also  several  times  after,  during  the 
early  days  of  February.1  His  own  declaration  that 
he  was  absent  from  the  House  for  six  weeks,  has 
been  quoted.  Must  we  think  that  his  colleagues  still 
counted  him.  though  absent,  as  one  of  them,  and  as- 
signed him  business  in  anticipation  of  his  return  ? 
On  the  2d  of  March,  names  of  commanders  for  sev- 
eral ships  are  reported  by  him,  among  them  that  of 
Ascue,  a  famous  officer  afterward,  and  on  the  5th, 
laws  for  the  government  of  the  Navy.  On  the  yth 
of  March,  the  act  for  the  abolishing  of  the  King- 
ship, which  though  introduced  earlier,  as  has  been 
seen,  had  not  yet  been  acted  upon,  is  referred  to  a 
committee  of  which  he  is  first ;  and  on  the  24th  of 
March,  in  the  absence  of  the  Speaker,  Vane  presides.2 
While  thus  active  in  Parliament,  Vane  is  also  con- 

1  Journal  of  Commons,  under  dates.  2  Order-Book. 


I649-]          THE  RUMP  AGAINST   THE    WORLD.  335 

stantly  present  at  the  Council  of  State.  His  first 
appearance  is  on  February  23d,  and  he  is  hence- 
forth almost  unremitting,  his  record  as  to  attendance 
being  surpassed  by  only  three  others  out  of  the 
forty-one  members.  On  the  27th,  with  Cromwell, 
Marten,  Jones,  and  Scott,  he  is  appointed  to  arrange 
Army  matters  before  the  impending  Irish  Campaign, 
that  all  may  go  efficiently  there,  and  at  the  same 
time  be  safe  at  home.  On  March  5th,  he,  with  the 
Committee  for  the  Affairs  of  the  Admiralty  and 
Navy,  is  to  consider  the  expense  of  preparing  the 
"St.  George,"  "James,"  "Vanguard,"  "  Swiftsure," 
"  Rainbow,"  "  Henrietta  Maria,"  "  Unicorn,"  and 
"  Lion,"  and  to  see  how  soon  they  can  be  ready, 
"  the  generals  of  the  fleet  [Blake,  Dean,  and  Pop- 
ham]  to  meet  the  Committee  to-morrow  for  settling 
the  above-mentioned  affair."  March  i2th,  comes  the 
formal  appointment  of  the  Committee  for  the  Navy, 
Sir  Henry  Vane,  Colonel  Walton,  and  Alderman 
Wilson  being  named  "  to  sit  daily  on  these  affairs 
and  to  report  to  the  Council."  March  I3th,  Vane, 
Whitlocke,  and  others  are  constituted  the  Commit- 
tee on  Alliances.  Vane  is  mentioned  as  reporting 
the  state  of  preparation  of  the  ships,  "  with  particu- 
lars where  they  were  and  when  they  would  be  ready ; 
also  an  estimate  of  the  charges."  At  the  end  of 
March  we  find  him  on  the  Committee  for  Irish  busi- 
ness, second  on  the  list,  with  Cromwell  third ;  and  on 
the  27th  of  April,  with  his  old  colleague  Sir  William 
Armyne,  of  the  days  of  the  Solemn  League  and  Cov- 
enant, also  with  Cromwell,  and  Lisle,  he  is  "  to  con- 
sider in  what  condition  we  stand  in  reference  to 


336  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1649. 

Scotland."  April  9,  Cromwell,  Vane,  and  Alderman 
Wilson  are  appointed  to  treat  with  the  Common 
Council  of  London  for  borrowing  ,£120,000  for  the 
Irish  Campaign.1  April  23d,  he  is  on  a  committee 
to  confer  with  the  Parliament  concerning  the  export 
of  gold  and  silver.  May  i8th,  no  doubt  as  leading 
member  of  the  Committee  on  Alliances,  he  reports 
from  the  Council  to  Parliament  the  murder  at  the 
Hague  of  Dr.  Dorislaus,  the  ambassador  sent  by  the 
new  government  to  Holland,  who  was  stabbed  at 
once  upon  arriving  by  refugee  Royalists,  at  the  Swan 
Inn.  Again,  on  committees  always,  he  sits  "  on  the 
riots  at  York,"  on  "  the  distemper  at  Oxford,"  "  to 
consider  how  the  price  of  coal  for  the  poor  may  be 
brought  down,"  "  to  consider  as  to  the  best  manner 
of  searching  the  lodgings  of  thieves."  On  July  28th, 
it  is  ordered  "  that  the  Trust  formerlie  exercised  by 
ye  Me  of  ye  Ordnance  of  England  bee  putt  into  a 
Comittee  of  ye  Councell  [Vane  one]  and  they  are  to 
use  all  possible  dilligence  to  provide  Armes,  Amuni- 
con,  and  all  other  necessarie  provisions  of  warre  at 
equall  and  reasonable  prices  at  Convenient  dayes  of 
payment  for  the  service  of  this  Comonwealth,  and 
they  are  to  consult  with  whom  they  shall  think  fitt 
for  the  better  carrying  on  of  this  service."  August 
23d,  a  note  is  dispatched  to  certain  tardy  agents; 
"  Sir  Harry  Vane  wonders  you  should  boggle  in 
cutting  elm  timber  in  Theobald's  park,  as  you  are 
empowered  thereto  by  Parliament,  and  wishes  you 
to  go  in  hand  with  speed." 

By  reading  on  the  yellow  page  such  abbreviated 

1  Whitlocke,  iii.  II. 


1 649.]  THE  RUMP  AGAINST  THE    WORLD.  337 

jottings,  one  gets  some  notion  of  the  energy  with 
which  the  stout  hearts  set  to  work  at  their  task,  and 
sees  in  the  thick  of  everything  Vane,  busy  about 
things  large  and  small :  the  management  of  finances, 
the  fitting  out  of  hosts,  as  well  as  t/ne  sanitary  con- 
dition of  Oxford,  —  the  hostile  attitude  of  Scotland, 
Holland,  and  Ireland,  as  well  as  searching  the  lodg- 
ings of  London  thieves ;  above  all  he  is  busy  with  the 
making  of  a  great  Navy.  Meantime,  in  July,  the 
only  man  in  the  group  to  whom  he  stood  second  in 
power  and  influence,1  Cromwell,  departed  with  Ire- 
ton  and  his  12,000  troops  for  Ireland.  They  reached 
it  in  August.  The  story  of  that  terrible  campaign 
would  here  be  out  of  place.  Cromwell  "  showed  no 
quarter  in  the  name  of  ultimate  mercy."  2  Royalism 
was  dashed  into  insensibility  as  by  a  Titan's  mace. 
For  the  Commonwealth  the  case  was  desperate,  and 
they  fought  like  desperate  men.  All  was  sharp  and 
sudden  as  by  a  bolt  from  heaven.  The  mighty 
Oliver  was  at  home  again  in  the  following  May,  with 
his  arm  bare  for  further  smiting. 

While  the  result  of  the  Irish  campaign  was  doubt- 
ful through  the  summer  and  fall,  a  heavy  weight  of 
anxiety  hung  over  the  little  band  whose  post  was 
at  Westminster.  It  was  rare  for  more  than  twelve 
to  be  present  at  the  Council  of  State,  and  some- 
times there  was  barely  a  quorum  :  Parliament,  too, 
dwindled;  but  both  Parliament  and  Council  increased 
and  put  on  a  bolder  face  as  good  tidings  came  in  at 
last.  In  October,  an  "  Engagement"  was  drawn  up 

1  Ranke  :  History  of  England,  iii.  75.     Godwin,  iii.  31. 

2  Masson,  iv.  112. 


338  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1649. 

as  follows  :  "  I  do  declare  and  promise  that  I  will  be 
true  and  faithful  to  the  Commonwealth  of  England 
as  the  same  is  established,  without  a  King  or  a 
House  of  Lords."  This  was  at  first  intended  only 
for  Parliament,  but  was  extended  until,  from  the  be- 
ginning of  the  new  year,  its  acceptance  was  required 
of  all,  as  that  of  the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant 
had  been  required  in  the  years  before.  The  Com- 
mittee on  Alliances,  undeterred  by  the  fate  of  Doris- 
laus,  made  constant  effort  to  establish  friendly  rela- 
tions with  foreign  powers.  For  the  ambassadors  it 
was  perilous  employment;  and  Ascham  at  Madrid 
also  fell  under  the  daggers  of  Royalist  refugees. 
Men,  however,  were  found  to  go ;  among  others 
Charles  Vane,  a  younger  brother  of  Sir  Harry,  whose 
post  was  at  Lisbon.  To  the  great  Committee  for  ' 
the  Admiralty  and  Navy  other  members  had  been 
added,  but  Vane  was  more  than  ever  here  the  guid- 
ing mind.  I  copy  from  the  "  draft "  of  Gualter  Frost 
the  following  entry  of  December  4,  which  I  decipher 
with  some  difficulty,  as  his  pen  tries  to  keep  pace 
with  the  tongues  of  the  Council  busily  wagging  about 
him. 

"4  December  1649.  That  a  Itr  bee  written  to 
Coll.  Blake  to  lett  him  know  that  this  Council  hath 
pitcht  upon  him  as  ye  person  whom  they  intend  to 
send  against  P.  Rupert  which  they  have  resolved 
here  to  ye  end  yt  by  their  staying  for  their  meeting 
together  either  in  London  or  any  place  delayes  may 
not  be  occasioned  to  let  him  know  that  hee  is  to  re- 
side at  Plymouth  untill  all  things  shall  bee  readie 
for  his  setting  forth,  and  ye  meane  time  ye  Irish 


1 649-]  THE  RUMP  AGAINST  THE   WORLD.  339 

squadron  may  doe  service  in  ye  Station  to  which 
they  are  appointed."  Blake,  as  we  have  seen,  had 
been  selected  for  sea  service,  together  with  Dean 
and  Popham,  almost  at  once  after  the  constituting 
of  the  Council.  Since  then  he  had  'oeen  getting  his 
sea-legs,  an  acquisition  not  exactly  easy  for  him,  one 
imagines,  fifty-years-old  landsman  as  he  was,  who 
never  until  now  had  set  his  foot  upon  a  deck.  His 
opportunity  had  not  yet  come,  but  was  now  not  far 
off. 

Ever  and  anon  in  the  midst  of  business  immedi- 
ately pressing  comes  a  hint  that  the  work  of  settling 
the  nation  upon  a  better  foundation  is  by  no  means 
forgotten.  The  committee,  at  the  head  of  which 
stood  Vane,  charged  to  furnish  "  heads  for  discus- 
sion "  with  regard  to  what  should  be  the  constitution 
of  the  new  Parliament,  when  at  length  the  long 
wished-for  time  should  arrive  at  which  the  Rump 
might  safely  lay  down  its  responsibility,  met  often, 
though  the  notes  of  deliberations  are  unfortunately 
lost.  As  yet,  plainly,  the  time  had  not  come  when 
a  change  could  be  made. 

So  this  first  year  of  the  Commonwealth,  the  lead- 
ing occurrence  of  which,  after  the  beheading  of 
Charles,  is  the  great  Irish  campaign,  draws  to  an 
end.  England  was  under  the  Rump  and  the  Coun- 
cil of  State.  "  Two  very  compact  bodies,  but  they 
grasped  a  world  of  business.  In  the  MS.  Order- 
Books  of  the  Council  of  State  for  the  period,  and 
in  the  printed  Journals  of  the  Commons,  what  a 
mass  of  considering,  debating,  and  deciding  meets 
one,  and  over  what  a  miscellany  of  topics  !  Commu- 


340  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1650. 

nications  with  Cromwell,  and  constant  care  for  sup- 
plies to  him,  in  the  first  place ;  but  how  much  be- 
sides!  Private  Bills  and  Public  Bills;  ist,  2d,  and 
3d  readings  of  each.  .  .  .  Acts  and  Resolutions 
ranging  over  every  possible  subject,  from  the  Propa- 
gation of  the  Gospel  to  the  Customs  of  Sugar,  Silks, 
Pepper,  and  Tobacco,  and  the  protection  of  the 
home-trade  in  Hat-bands :  such  is  the  amazing 
medley.  Always  one  sees  Parliament  in  front  and 
facing  the  public,  but  always  the  Council  of  State  at 
the  back,  managing  through  manuscript  and  by  re- 
ports and  recommendations  conveyed  to  the  House." l 
At  home,  disaffection  was  everywhere  :  abroad,  there 
was  no  quarter  of  the  compass  from  which  storm 
did  not  threaten.  With  knitted  brows  and  lips 
compressed  the  Independents  faced  it  all.  Milton 
having  finished  the  "  Tenure  of  Kings,  and  Magis- 
trates," wrote  in  his  new  ofHce  the  "  Iconoclastes," 
the  image  which  he  tried  to  break  being  the  "  Eikon- 
basilike,"  —  that  and  the  noble  "  Defensio  Populi 
Anglicani."  At  the  heart  of  all  the  effort,  second 
only  to  Cromwell  in  power  and  prestige,  is  young  Sir 
Harry  Vane. 

1  Masson,  iv.  1 14. 


CHAPTER   XV. 

DUNBAR    AND    WORCESTER. 

THE  1 2th  of  February  and  one  or  two  days  follow- 
ing were  occupied  with  the  nomination  of  the  new 
Council  of  State.  Things  were  to  continue  under 
the  old  order.  On  the  Qth  of  January,  Vane,  as  chair- 
man of  the  Committee  for  determining  the  succes- 
sion of  Parliaments,  had  reported  a  reform  bill, 
recommending  that  the  new  House  should  be  consti- 
tuted'substantially  upon  Ireton's  plan.  Possibly  he 
himself  was  ready  to  try  the  experiment  of  a  change ;  * 
but  after  a  debate  of  some  days,  the  House  resolved 
that  the  infant  Moses  must  still  be  nursed  by  his  own 
mother.  Of  the  former  Council,  thirty-seven  were 
re-elected,  to  whom  five  new  names  were  added. 
One  hundred  and  eight  members  were  present  in  the 
House,  the  largest  number  since  the  execution  of  the 
King.  The  name  of  Old  Sir  Harry  Vane  was  pro- 
posed, but  he  failed  of  election,  —  a  fact  over  which 
the  present  biographer,  mindful  of  the  confusions 
sure  to  come  about  in  Gualter  Frost's  record,  desires 
to  express  his  joy.  February  23d,  the  oath  of  se- 
crecy was  taken  by  the  new  Council,  each  in  turn 
rising  and  reading  the  oath  for  himself  in  an  audible 

1  Forster,  Life  of  Vane,  307  etc. 


342  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY   VANE.  [1650. 

voice,  while  the  rest  sat  uncovered.1  Though  the 
successes  in  Ireland  had  increased  somewhat  the  at- 
tendance at  Parliament,  adherents  to  the  present 
order  came  in  slowly.  The  sailors,  in  especial,  were 
ill-affected,  only  retained,  so  many  thought,  by  high 
pay ;  and  it  was  regarded  as  very  doubtful  whether 
Blake  and  his  fellows,  who  had  blockaded  Rupert  in 
Kinsale,  on  the  Irish  coast,  then  afterwards  followed 
him  to  the  shore  of  Portugal,  could  ever  bring  their 
crews  to  fight  the  "  revolted  ships."  Bradshaw  de- 
clared that  "  with  all  the  fair  and  foul  means  they 
could  use,  not  one  Cavalier  was  heartily  converted 
to  them ; "  and  according  to  the  report  of  a  Royalist 
which  apparently  had  been  intercepted  on  its  way  to 
the  continent,  Vane  said  to  some  one  with  whom  he 
dined,  "  that  they  were  in  a  far  worse  state  than  ever 
they  have  yet  been ;  that  all  the  world  was  and 
would  be  their  enemies ;  that  the  Scots  had  left 
them,  that  their  own  Army  and  Generals  were  not 
to  be  trusted,  that  the  whole  kingdom  would  rise  and 
cut  their  throats  upon  the  first  good  occasion,  and 
that  they  knew  not  any  place  to  go  to  be  safe." 2 
The  untrustworthy  General  whom  Vane  had  in  mind 
may  be  believed  to  have  been  Lord  Fairfax,  who, 
always  lukewarm  since  the  coming  in  of  the  Rump, 
withdrew  this  year  to  await  in  private  life  the  return 
of  the  Stuarts.  What  danger  impended  from  the 
north,  we  must  now  consider. 

March   26th,  the  Council  orders3  that  Sir  Henry 
Vane  and  others  "  confer  with  the  Lo.  Generall  about 

1  Green's  Calendar,  preface.  8  Order-Books :  Draft. 

2  Ibid.,  May  10. 


1650.]  DUNBAR  AND    WORCESTER.  343 

the  present  state  of  affairs  and  It  him  know  what  in- 
formations are  received  from  Scotland,  and  of  their 
readiness  to  invade  England,  and  to  comunicate  to 
him  what  resolutions  have  been  taken  for  a  force  to 
be  ready  to  take  the  field.  And  to  consider  with  his 
Lsp  what  place  he  may  best  be  with  some  pt  of  these 
forces  in  order  to  look  to  the  saftee  of  ye  Comon- 
wealth  against  all  impressions  from  any  place  what- 
soever that  may  be  made  upon  it,  and  they  are  to  ac- 
quaint him  with  what  intelligence  the  Comonwealth 
-has  from  any  place  concerning  those  affairs."  "  The 
committee  that  meets  with  the  Lord  generall "  is  full  of 
business  as  the  spring  advances,  at  length  on  the  3d  of 
May  causing  the  Council  to  order  the  preparation 
of  an  army  of  15,000  men  for  the  Scotch  Campaign, 
to  consist  of  horse,  foot,  and  dragoons.  Through- 
out the  month  the  jottings  of  Gualter  Frost  are 
fairly  sulphurous  with  "  Amunicon."  "  Backs,  breasts, 
and  potts l "  are  provided  for  a  vast  host  of  troopers  : 
also,  twenty  thousand  horse-shoes ;  while  "  bandoleers, 
snaphances,  pikes,  and  bullets,"  in  adequate  numbers 
are  to  be  made  ready  for  the  foot.  As  Vane  is  first 
on  the  Army  Committee  of  the  Council,  so  he  is  first 
on  the  Navy  Committee,  which  with  equal  particular- 
ity provides  for  the  fleet  and  watches  over  all  its 
action.  "  We  appointed  six  new  frigates  to  be  built 
this  summer,  and  for  furnishing  them  with  guns, 
have  treated  with  Mr.  Brown,  the  gun-founder,  to 
furnish  one  hundred  and  eighty  guns  of  such  kind 
as  upon  Conference  with  the  carpenters  of  those 
frigates  and  others,  we  have  thought  fitting."  "  The 
1  Headpieces. 


344  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1650. 

"Hart "frigate,  being  at  Harwich,  and  most  of  her  offi- 
cers being  on  shore,  the  company  cut  the  cable  and 
carried  away  the  ship,  which  they  are  like  enough  to 
make  use  of  to  infest  the  seas  and  interrupt  trade. 
We  look  upon  this  negligence  as  a  very  great  breach 
of  duty,  for  which  they  deserve  to  be  proceeded 
against  with  all  severity,  for  prevention  of  like  at- 
tempts." An  order  follows  to  pursue  and  punish 
the  mutineers.  The  sailors  look  to  Vane's  commit- 
tee to  stop  abuses.  Popham  writes  to  him  from 
before  Lisbon,  where  he  is  watching  Rupert :  "  Our 
provisions  fall  out  to  be  extremely  bad  ;  of  eight 
months  beef  and  pork  in  this  ship,  there  was  not  a 
fortnight's  meat  fit  to  eat:  the  'Andrew'  is  the  same, 
and  that  part  of  the  victuals  that  was  last  provided 
at  Plymouth.  The  victuallers  send  word  they  very 
much  fear  it,  as  it  was  saved  in  so  hot  a  season  of 
the  year.  I  hope  we  shall  make  our  provisions  hold 
out  as  long  as  we  shall  be  able  to  stay  here,  for  we 
ride  in  the  open  sea  just  as  we  did  at  Kinsale,  and 
when  the  winter  comes  on  we  must  expect  to  be 
forced  from  hence.  There  is  scarce  a  ship  here  but 
complains  of  some  great  defect  or  other,  —  masts, 
sails,  and  rigging,  spent  or  wrong,  and  many  of  ex- 
traordinary leakage  ;  but  the  Lord,  I  hope,  will  carry 
us  on  through  the  work." 1 

How  could  the  prospect  have  been  darker!  In 
the  nation,  the  vast  majority  secretly  hostile  ;  in  the 
Army,  disaffection  in  the  ranks  and  coolness  in  the 
high  places ;  in  the  Navy,  mutinous  crews  upon  un- 
seaworthy  and  ill-provisioned  ships ;  in  the  outside 

1  Green's  Calendar. 


1650.]  DUNBAR  AND    WORCESTER.  345 

world  no  friendly  voice  or  hand !  If  however  in  men 
like  Vane  and  Bradshaw  the  heart  sinks,  it  is  not  to 
a  submergence  under  discouragement,  but  to  a  new 
level  of  stubborn  resolution. 

Naturally,  the  friends  of  the  young  King  saw  little 
unpropitious  in  the  skies,  in  spite  of  the  victories  at 
Dublin,  Drogheda,  and  Wexford.  Ireland  for  the 
time  was  lost  to  them,  but  Scotland  was  enthusiasti- 
cally Royalist.  It  had  proclaimed  Charles  at  once 
upon  news  of  his  father's  death.  Since  then,  Scottish 
emissaries  had  constantly  besought  him  to  trust  him- 
self to  them.  June  23,  he  arrived  in  Scotland  with  a 
brilliant  and  hopeful  retinue.  Before  landing,  he  won 
all  by  signing  the  Covenant,  more  than  had  been 
asked  or  expected  of  him.  The  Scottish  Parliament 
appointed  a  great  executive  committee,  at  the  head 
of  which  was  Argyle,  once  the  intimate  of  Cromwell 
and  Vane,  but  now  their  foe.  An  army  of  23,000 
was  put  in  the  field,  at  the  head  of  which  nominally 
was  that  same  Earl  of  Leven  who  had  fled  so  pre- 
maturely from  Marston  Moor.  The  real  commander, 
however,  was  David  Leslie,  the  splendid  soldier  who 
had  saved  Cromwell  at  the  White  Syke,  and  ruined 
Montrose  at  Philiphaugh.  Cromwell  was  in  Eng- 
land May  31.  His  army  was  ready  for  him,  thanks 
to  the  Council  of  State.  Backs,  breasts,  and  potts 
were  not  wanting  to  the  troopers.  Bandolier,  snap- 
hance,  and  pike  were  at  hand  for  the  foot.  Before 
June  had  ended  the  twenty  thousand  horse-shoes 
were  clattering  northward,  the  infantry  close  at 
hand,  the  whole  force  pervaded  with  Cromwell's 
fierce  enthusiasm. 


346  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1650. 

On  July  22,  the  border  was  crossed,  and  the  1 1,000 
Ironsides  faced  23,000  Scots.  It  was  really  far  worse 
than  at  Preston.  The  odds,  in  the  two  cases,  against 
the  Independents  were  about  equally  great.  Now, 
however,  there  was  no  such  discord  in  the  opposing 
host  as  had  crippled  Hamilton ;  and  David  Leslie, 
able  and  cautious  in  strategy  as  he  was  vigorous  in 
actual  battle,  was  as  formidable  an  opponent  as  the 
world  could  then  furnish.  Luckily  for  the  good 
cause,  he  was  impeded  in  his  action  by  a  committee 
of  the  Scottish  Parliament  and  Kirk,  whose  wisdom 
in  warfare  was  not  at  all  proportioned  to  their  zeal. 

Whoever  goes  northward  to  Edinburgh,  following 
the  coast,  traverses  the  scene  of  this  very  memorable 
campaign.  The  train  takes  you  now  quickly  by 
Copperspath,  a  gorge  then  difficult,  which  Leslie 
blocked  behind  Cromwell,  skilfully  cutting  off  his 
retreat  by  land.  From  Arthur's  Seat  along  the  shore 
of  the  Frith  of  Forth  to  the  ocean,  the  armies  manoeu- 
vred, the  crafty  Scot,  with  headquarters  in  what  is 
now  the  new  town  of  Edinburgh,  adhering  to  strong 
positions  and  refusing  to  be  tempted  to  battle,  while 
the  invaders  wore  themselves  out  in  vain  marches  and 
consumed  their  provisions.  The  Fabian  policy  was 
most  effective ;  and  at  the  beginning  of  September, 
Cromwell,  cooped  up  in  Dunbar  on  the  coast,  depen- 
dent on  ships  in  the  offing  for  food,  with  the  exulting 
Scots,  more  than  twice  his  number,  on  advantageous 
ground  close  at  hand,  his  own  men  dropping  fast 
through  sickness,  had  scarcely  a  foothold  in  the  coun- 
try he  had  come  to  subdue.  If  he  fell,  the  cause  must 
fall.  His  great  soul  was  never  wrapped  in  deeper 


1650.]  DUNBAR  AND    WORCESTER.  347 

shadow.  Out  of  the  gloom  he  thus  wrote  to  Hasel- 
rig,  not  now  at  Westminster,  but  with  sword  on  thigh 
at  Newcastle,  in  command  of  the  friendly  garrison 
nearest  to  the  men  in  danger. 

"  To  Sir  Arthur  Haselrig,  Governor  of  Newcastle :  1 

These. 

"  DUNBAR,  2d  September,  1650. 

DEAR  SIR  —  We  are  upon  an  engagement  very 
difficult.  The  Enemy  hath  blocked  up  our  way  at 
the  Pass  at  Copperspath,  through  which  we  cannot 
get  without  almost  a  miracle.  He  lieth  so  upon  the 
Hills  that  we  know  not  how  to  come  that  way  with- 
out great  difficulty  ;  and  our  lying  here  daily  con- 
sumeth  our  men,  who  fall  sick  beyond  imagination. 

I  perceive,  your  forces  are  not  in  a  capacity  for 
present  release.  Wherefore,  whatever  becomes  of 
us,  it  will  be  well  for  you  to  get  what  forces  you  can 
together ;  and  the  South  to  help  what  they  can.  The 
business  nearly  concerneth  all  Good  People.  If  your 
forces  had  been  in  a  readiness  to  have  fallen  upon  the 
back  of  Copperspath,  it  might  have  occasioned  sup- 
plies to  have  come  to  us.  But  the  only  wise  God 
knows  what  is  best.  All  shall  work  for  Good.  Our 
spirits  are  comfortable,  praised  be  the  Lord  —  though 
our  present  condition  be  as  it  is.  And  indeed  we 
have  much  hope  in  the  Lord ;  of  whose  mercy  we 
have  had  large  experience. 

Indeed  do  you  get  together  what  forces  you  can 
against  them.  Send  to  friends  in  the  South  to  help 
with  more.  Let  H.  Vane  know  what  I  write.  I 

i  Carlyle. 


348  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1650. 

would  not  make  it  public,  lest  danger  should  accrue 
thereby.  You  know  what  use  to  make  hereof.  Let 
me  hear  from  you.  I  rest, 

Your  servant, 

OLIVER  CROMWELL." 

"  Let  H.  Vane  know  what  I  write."  Vane,  then, 
was  the  one  man  in  England  to  whom  Cromwell 
could  turn  at  such  a  time  to  rally  forces  for  his  suc- 
cor; or,  in  case  of  his  destruction,  to  gather  what 
strength  remained  for  another  effort. 

Who  can  read  the  story  of  Dunbar,  Carlyle  has 
told  it  for  all  time,  without  a  quicker  drawing  of  the 
breath  !  The  fatal  coming  of  the  Scots  from  the 
high  Doon  Hill  into  the  low  ground,  watched  by 
Cromwell  and  Lambert  from  the  garden  of  Brocks- 
mouth  House  :  the  hasty  counselling  between  them 
and  Monk,  as  darkness  comes  on  :  the  perception 
of  the  mistake  which  Leslie  declared  was  due  to  the 
meddling  of  the  civilians  by  whom  his  action  was 
hampered :  the  resolve  to  profit  by  it  with  the  first 
gray  of  dawn  :  the  waiting  through  the  night,  while 
"  the  hoarse  sea  moans  bodeful,  swinging  low  and 
heavy  against  those  whinstone  bays  ;  the  sea  and  the 
tempests  are  abroad,  all  else  asleep  but  we,  and  there 
is  One  that  rides  on  the  wings  of  the  wind."  The 
moment  arrives.  "  The  moon  gleams  out,  hard  and 
blue,  riding  among  hail-clouds ;  and  over  St.  Abb's 
Head,  a  streak  of  dawn  is  rising.  .  .  .  The  trumpets 
peal,  the  cannons  awaken  all  along  the  line :  '  The 
Lord  of  Hosts !  The  Lord  of  Hosts ! '  On,  my  brave 
ones,  on  !  "  Lambert  led  the  headlong  charge.  Monk 


1650.]  DUNBAR  AND    WORCESTER.  349 

had  his  share,  and  sturdy  Pride  purged  in  his  own 
fashion  a  good  bit  of  Scotch  hillside  till  it  was  as 
clean  of  Presbyterians  as  the  benches  of  the  House 
of  Commons.  Whalley,  with  his  horse  slain,  and  cut 
in  the  wrist,  was  in  the  fore-front;  so,  too,  the  man 
destined  afterward  to  be  his  companion  in  his  Amer- 
ican exile,  the  Regicide  Goffe,  who,  this  day,  led 
Cromwell's  own  regiment  of  foot,  and  bore  himself 
valiantly.  More  total  overthrow  was  never  known. 
Three  thousand  were  slain  ;  ten  thousand  captured, 
thirty  cannon,  two  hundred  colors,  fifteen  thousand 
arms.  Cromwell  declared  in  his  report  to  Parliament, 
"  I  do  not  believe  we  have  lost  twenty  men."  "  The 
Lord-general  made  a  halt  and  sang  the  CXVIIth 
Psalm,  till  our  horse  could  gather  for  the  chase. 
There  we  uplift  it  and  roll  it  strong  and  great 
against  the  sky. 

'  O  give  ye  praise  unto  the  Lord, 

All  nati-ons  that  be  ; 
Likewise  ye  people  all,  accord 

His  name  to  magnify. 
For  great  to-us-ward  ever  are 

His  loving  kindnesses  ; 
His  truth  endures  for  evermore  : 

The  Lord  O  do  ye  bless.' " 

The  two  hundred  banners,  dispatched  to  London, 
were  hung  in  Westminster  Hall,  by  the  side  of  the 
banners  taken  at  Preston.  As  the  anxious  watchers 
in  Parliament  and  in  the  Council,  with  the  mob  of 
London  scarcely  held  down  about  them  by  Skippon, 
received  and  hung  up  the  trophies,  won  not  simply 
by  the  prowess  of  the  soldier,  but  by  the  work  of 
the  administrators  who  had  recruited,  trained,  armed, 


350  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1650. 

and  fed  him,  who  will  deny  to  them  the  right  to  feel 
exultation,  and  to  claim  that  they,  too,  had  a  part  in 
the  glory  of  the  almost  miraculous  field  of  Dunbar ! 

Vane  was  in  Cromwell's  thoughts  in  his  joy  as 
well  as  his  distress.  September  4th  the  glorious 
soldier  wrote  to  his  wife :  "  My  Dearest,  I  have  not 
leisure  to  write  much.  But  I  could  chide  thee  that 
in  many  of  thy  letters  thou  writest  to  me,  that  I 
should  not  be  unmindful  of  thee  and  thy  little  ones. 
Truly,  if  I  love  you  not  too  well,  I  think  I  err  not 
on  the  other  side  much.  Thou  art  dearer  to  me 
than  any  creature ;  let  that  suffice.  The  Lord  hath 
showed  us  an  exceeding  mercy :  who  can  tell  how 
great  it  is !  My  weak  faith  hath  been  upheld.  I 
have  been  in  my  inward  man  marvellously  sup- 
ported ;  —  though  I  assure  thee  I  grow  an  old  man, 
and  feel  infirmities  of  age  marvellously  stealing  upon 
me.  Would  my  corruptions  did  as  fast  decrease ! 
Pray  on  my  behalf  in  the  latter  respect.  The  par- 
ticulars of  our  late  success  Harry  Vane,  or  Gilbert 
Pickering  will  impart  to  thee.  My  love  to  all  dear 
friends.  I  rest  thine.  Oliver  Cromwell." ] 

The  note  implies  that  Vane  was  intimate  in  Crom- 
well's home.  Pickering  was  his  associate  in  the 
Council  of  State,  and  both  would  thus  be  in  posses- 
sion of  the  full  tidings  which  had  been  sent  from  the 
field.  One  can  suppose  the  countenance  of  Vane, 
so  severely  grave  in  his  portrait  as  if  it  seldom  had 
anything  to  face  but  terrible  peril  and  difficulty,  soft- 
ening  into  smiles  as  he  talked  with  the  wife  of  his 
dear  friend  about  the  marvellous  deliverance  which 
the  Lord  had  granted  to  her  husband  and  the  cause. 

1  Carlyle. 


1650.]  DUNBAR  AND   WORCESTER.  351 

In  spite  of  Dunbar,  it  was  far  from  being  the  case 
that  all  danger  was  over.  The  defeated  chiefs  of  the 
Scots  withdrew  northward  with  the  wreck  of  their 
army  and  the  young  King.  Though  they  left  the 
Lowlands  to  the  invaders,  they  held  the  North,  and 
with  true  Scotch  grit  strengthened  and  reorganized 
their  force  for  further  resistance.  In  the  winter 
Cromwell  fell  ill,  remaining  disabled  for  the  most 
part  until  June,  his  condition  being  such  at  times 
that  the  gravest  fear  was  felt.  The  wars  had  devel- 
oped a  company  of  splendid  captains.  Though  Fair- 
fax was  in  retirement,  Ireton  was  in  Ireland ;  old 
Skippon  still  was  well  able  to  cope  with  disaffection 
in  London ;  Harrison  with  fine  capacity  kept  Eng- 
land in  order ;  while  with  Cromwell  himself,  Lambert, 
Monk,  and  Fleetwood  were  as  intrepid  and  skilful  as 
the  lieutenants  who  at  a  later  time  surrounded  the 
great  Corsican,  perhaps  the  only  peer  of  the  Puritan 
hero.  All  felt,  however,  that  Cromwell  could  not  be 
spared.  The  strong  man,  sick  wellnigh  unto  death 
at  Edinburgh,  was  the  object  of  heart-felt  praying  in 
the  ranks  of  the  Ironsides  and  everywhere  among 
the  Honest  Party.  All  was  likely  to  go  wrong  if  he 
were  lost. 

Though  Dunbar  had  made  impression  abroad,  no 
substantial  friends  were  as  yet  won.  Friendship 
with  Holland  was  especially  desired.  In  a  portion 
of  Holland  sympathy  with  the  Independents  was 
strong.  There,  too,  toleration  was  cherished  —  there, 
indeed,  it  had  been  born  ;  there,  too,  was  a  Republic, 
and  aspirations  for  popular  freedom  were  ardent. 
The  Stadtholder,  however,  was  son-in-law  of  the 


352  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1651. 

beheaded  Charles ;  and  he  and  his  party,  the  Orange 
faction,  were  hostile  to  the  Commonwealth,  shelter- 
ing Charles  II,  and  suffering  Holland  to  be  used  as 
the  base  whence  England  might  be  assailed.  Just 
here  the  Stadtholder  died,  and  the  Commonwealth, 
believing  the  time  favorable,  sent  a  magnificent  em- 
bassy to  the  Hague,  in  the  hope  of  making  a  close 
bond  with  their  neighbor  state.1  Cromwell  and 
Vane  had  early  entertained  as  bold  a  thought  as  this, 
of  making  a  firm  union  between  the  two  countries. 
"  Faciamus  eas  in  gentem  unam"  was  a  phrase  used 
in  their  intimate  communications  with  the  Dutch 
leaders.  St.  John,  now  chief  justice  of  the  Common 
Pleas,  who  had  taken  little  part  in  public  life  since 
1648,  was  selected  to  be  the  principal  figure  of  the 
mission,  and  the  public  resources  were  strained  to 
produce  an  imposing  effect.  St.  John  and  his  asso- 
ciate, Strickland,  in  the  spring  entered  the  Hague 
with  a  train  requiring  twenty-seven  coaches,  while 
two  hundred  and  forty-six  attendants  followed  on 
foot.  Everything  possible  was  said  and  done  to 
conciliate  friends.  There  was  no  good  result:  the 
coaches  were  hooted  in  the  streets,  the  windows  of 
the  Englishmen  were  broken,  scufHes  took  place  be- 
tween their  servants  and  the  people.  The  envoys 
themselves  feared  assassination.  Refugee  English 
Royalists  were,  indeed,  the  leaders,  but  the  Orange 
party  abetted  them  ;  and  even  the  Republican  Dutch 
were  not  ready  for  an  alliance  which  should  unite 
the  two  countries.  After  three  months'  effort  the 
envoys  left  in  June,  St.  John  declaring  ominously : 

1  Godwin,  iii.  372  etc. 


1 6s I.]  DUNBAR  AND    WORCESTER.  353 

"  He  saw  they  were  waiting  to  see  how  Scotland  would 
come  out.  Cromwell  would  soon  finish  that ;  then 
they  would  be  sorry  at  having  rejected  the  offers." 

Cromwell  was  indeed  once  more  in  the  saddle  in 
June,  and  things  were  pressed  ;  but  the  young  King, 
at  bay  in  the  North,  could  not  be  reached.  A  stout 
army  encircled  him,  and  among  the  chiefs  were  not 
only  David  Leslie,  but  other  good  soldiers,  Cavaliers, 
as  well  as  the  Covenanters  who  in  the  earlier  time  had 
won  fame  fighting  for  the  Houses.  At  length,  while 
Cromwell  was  working  hard  to  get  at  them  from  the 
flank,  a  bold  move  was  put  into  execution  by  the  Scots 
which  apparently  surprised  him,  and  which  perhaps 
only  he  could  have  successfully  met.  Breaking  sud- 
denly from  his  fastness,  the  King  with  all  his  host 
rushed  southward  for  England,  leaving  Cromwell 
far  behind.  War  was  to  be  carried  into  Africa.  It 
was  the  last  day  of  July,  and  in  less  than  a  week  a 
great  force,  far  more  dangerous  than  the  army  of 
Hamilton  three  years  before,  was  pouring  past  Car- 
lisle by  the  old  road  into  Cumberland,  Westmore- 
land, and  Lancashire.  Far  and  wide  the  country 
was  summoned  to  the  side  of  the  King.  A  thrill 
went  through  the  heart  of  each  old  Cavalier,  —  of 
every  stubborn  Presbyterian  also,  who  hated  the  rule 
of  the  Sectaries  with  its  toleration  inspired  of  the 
Devil,  —  of  every  Catholic,  who  saw  in  Charles  the 
son  of  the  Catholic  Henrietta,  and  could  reason- 
ably hope  that  a  turn  in  the  King's  favor  would 
bring  out  good  for  Rome.  From  the  North  the 
King  swept  fast  into  the  Midlands.  There  was  no 
power  to  resist  him.  The  King  had  "  come  to  enjoy 


354  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1651. 

his  own  again."  The  disaffection,  held  down  only 
through  fear,  was  seething  everywhere.  On  August 
22d,  three  weeks  only  from  distant  Stirling,  Charles, 
20,000  strong,  marched  into  the  city  of  Worcester. 
But  the  King's  host  had  anxieties. 

Down  through  the  same  summer  landscape,  how- 
ever, by  parallel  roads,  swift  as  if  their  feet  were 
winged,  had  poured  the  Ironsides.  Through  Ber- 
wick, southward,  a  pause  beneath  the  walls  of  York, 
past  Nottingham,  till  the  three  spires  of  Coventry 
pricked  the  sky  before  them ;  then  at  Warwick  cut- 
ting the  road  along  which  the  Roundheads  nine 
years  before  had  marched  to  Edgehill.  The  King 
had  been  in  Worcester  but  a  week,  when  the  pickets 
reported  Cromwell  at  hand  with  30,000  men.  It 
was  well  that  Cromwell's  host  was  strong,  for  the 
Council  of  State  had  word  at  this  time  that  a  force 
in  aid  of  the  King  from  Holland,  under  the  Duke  of 
Lorraine,  was  expected  on  the  coast  of  Suffolk.1  On 
the  eve  of  the  "  Crowning  Mercy  "  of  Worcester,  let 
us  look  again  at  the  Order  Books  of  the  Council  of 
State. 

In  a  struggle  so  earnest  as  that  which  the  Inde- 
pendents were  waging,  one  naturally  wonders  whence 
came  the  sinews  for  such  a  war.  The  Common- 
wealth was  a  liberal  paymaster.  From  Cromwell, 
who  in  the  Irish  campaign  demanded  ,£8,000  besides 
the  usual  Lord  Lieutenant's  salary,  down  to  the  crews 
of  the  fleet,  the  Council  took  care  that  all  useful  ser- 
vants should  be  handsomely  salaried;  and  the  man- 
agement of  the  finances  was,  as  always,  a  matter  of 

1  Bisset,  vol.  ii.  183  etc. 


1651.]  DUNBAR  AND    WORCESTER.  355 

the  highest  moment.  The  sources  of  revenue,  be- 
sides the  ordinary  taxes,  and  the  excise  which  had 
been  established  by  Pym,  were  the  compositions  of 
Royalists,  and  sequestrations  of  property  owned  by 
them  and  by  the  Church.  Malignants  were  fined 
heavily,  and  in  the  case  of  obstinate  Cavaliers,  whole- 
sale confiscation  took  place.  The  Crown  lands,  those 
belonging  to  other  members  of  the  royal  family,  the 
lands  and  revenues  of  Bishops,  Deans,  and  Chapters, 
were  unsparingly  taken.  Small  respect  was  shown 
to  the  Cathedrals:  their  roofs  were  stripped  of  lead 
and  copper,  and  if  the  stones  could  have  brought  a 
price,  the  Puritan  would  have  been  restrained  as  lit- 
tle by  any  regard  for  art,  as  he  was  by  any  sentiment 
of  reverence,  from  levelling  them  all  to  the  ground. 
The  timber  of  the  royal  parks  went  into  the  hulls 
that  Vane  was  building  for  Blake ;  and  the  parks 
themselves,  if  Vane  could  have  had  his  way,  would 
have  gone,  as  we  shall  see,  to  help  the  cause.  The 
exactions  of  resources  from  dissentients  was  often 
rude  enough :  in  the  circumstances,  however,  it  can- 
not be  charged  that  there  was  rapacity,  and  there 
is  little  evidence  of  a  misappropriation  of  means  to 
private  ends. 

Vane,  from  the  opening  of  the  Commonwealth, 
seems  to  have  been  scarcely  less  at  the  front  in  finan- 
cial management  than  elsewhere.  Business  was  al- 
ways done  by  committees,  the  wish  being,  as  has  been 
before  stated,  to  avoid  in  such  critical  times  per- 
sonal responsibility.  In  connection  with  any  impor- 
tant financial  act,  several  names  are  given  in  the 
Order  Books  with  that  of  Vane ;  but  knowing,  as  the 


356  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1651. 

reader  does  by  this  time,  how  the  leadership  of  the 
man  always  asserted  itself,  in  whatever  circle  he 
stood,  no  one  can  doubt  that  here,  too,  his  influence 
was  paramount.  At  once  upon  the  formation  of  the 
Council,  April  23,  '49,  he  is  one  of  the  committee 
to  confer  with  Parliament  about  the  exportation  of 
gold  and  silver;  and  he  goes,  as  we  have  seen,  to 
the  city  to  negotiate  a  loan  for  the  Irish  exigencies. 
Next  year,  April  1 3th,  when  the  campaign  of  Dunbar 
is  preparing,  Vane  reports  to  Parliament  the  want  of 
money  for  carrying  on  the  weighty  affairs  of  the 
Commonwealth,  and  desires  as  a  thing  absolutely 
necessary  an  order  for  its  provision,  to  supply  the 
present  strait ;  again,  in  August,  he  is  deputed  to  stir 
up  Parliament  for  a  supply  of  money  for  Cromwell, 
and  is  constantly  active  in  the  sequestration  of  Church 
lands. 

For  the  Ordnance  and  for  the  Army  Vane  is  also  in 
the  foreground ;  thought,  too,  is  given  to  small  affairs, 
the  bringing  of  water  from  Hyde  Park  to  White- 
hall, and  the  restraining  of  the  resort  of  people  to  the 
houses  of  ambassadors,  to  hear  mass.  Before  Wor- 
cester, the  Order  Books  give  evidence  of  much  anx- 
iety in  the  Council,  and  during  the  long  period  when 
Cromwell  lay  ill,  of  careful  provision  against  danger 
from  Charles,  still  unconquered  in  the  North.  Vane 
is  at  the  front,  in  fact,  in  all  management  of  martial 
affairs,  his  committee,  on  January  I3th,  taking  "speedy 
account  of  the  militia  in  England  and  Wales  before 
danger  from  the  North,"  and  February  loth,  being  ap- 
pointed to  confer  with  Harrison,  commanding  south 
of  the  border,  "  concerning  the  suppression  of  those 


1651.]  DUNBAR  AND  WORCESTER.  357 

in  arms  in  Yorkshire."  March  ist,  he  is  not  only  first 
on  the  Naval  Committee,  but  also  first  on  that  "for 
the  affairs  of  Ireland  and  Scotland : "  on  the  3d  he  is 
added  to  the  "  Committee  which  meets  with  the  offi- 
cers of  the  Army; "  and  on  the  i5th  receives  a  report 
from  Lambert,  apparently  conveying  secret  intelli- 
gence. April  yth,  "  So  much  of  the  Ld  generall's  let- 
ter to  Sir  Hen.  Vane  as  concerns  the  draught-horses 
and  a  further  supply  of  hay,  referred  to  the  Irish  and 
Scotch  Committee."  On  the  I3th  of  June,  Vane,  for 
the  Council,  writes  a  grateful  message  to  "  Dr.  God- 
dard,  for  the  care  by  him  shown  in  Cromwell's  sick- 
ness ;  "  and  on  August  I3th,  he  receives  a  letter  from 
Cromwell,  then  on  his  forced  march  southward  after 
the  King.  Just  before  the  battle  of  Worcester  the 
Council  is  all  alive  with  preparations,  plainly  in  great 
fear  of  a  general  rising  in  the  King's  favor,  which  no 
doubt  was  thoroughly  well-grounded. 

A  somewhat  curious  scrap  of  correspondence  be. 
tween  Vane  and  Cromwell  belongs  to  these  disturbed 
days,  which  indicates  that  although  Sir  Harry's  grap- 
ple with  the  sternest  facts  was  at  this  time  so  fierce 
and  constant,  yet  he  found  time  for  the  abstruse  mus- 
ings of  which  he  was  fond  —  a  strange  predilection 
in  one  who  had  such  a  grasp  of  the  practical,  a  side 
of  his  character  which  must  be  hereafter  illustrated. 
Cromwell  seems  to  have  been  dazed,  like  his  contem- 
poraries generally,  and  like  the  after-world,  in  fact, 
by  Vane's  unintelligibilities.  Calling  Oliver  "  Brother 
Fountain,"  and  himself  "  Brother  Heron,"  names  as- 
sumed for  their  familiar  intercourse,  while  Cromwell 
is  in  the  midst  of  the  fret  and  sweat  of  his  forced 


358  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1651. 

march,  after  the  Scots  had  eluded  him,1  Vane  writes, 
August  2d.  "  Brother  Fountain  can  guess  at  his 
brother's  meaning,"  he  says,  referring  to  troubles  in 
the  Council  of  State,  and  begging  him  not  to  believe 
ill-natured  reports  as  to  Brother  Heron.  Be  "  assured 
he  answers  your  heart's  desire  in  all  things,  except  he 
be  esteemed,  even  by  you,  in  principles  too  high  to 
fathom ;  which  one  day,  I  am  persuaded  will  not  be 
so  thought  by  you,  when  by  increasing  with  the  in- 
creasings  of  God,  you  shall  be  brought  to  that  sight 
and  enjoyment  of  God  in  Christ  which  passes  knowl- 
edge." 

For  a  short  time  there  is  little  mention  of  Sir 
Harry  in  the  records,  and  we  may  suppose  that  he 
was  overcome  by  illness,  as  in  the  summer  of  Preston. 
How  much  his  presence  was  missed,  this  note  of  the 
Council  shows,  of  August  18  :  "In  the  present  state 
of  affairs,  your  presence  and  assistance  would  be  very 
useful.  Repair  hither  with  what  speed  you  may." 
His  absence  cannot  have  been  long,  for  on  the  22d 
he  is  sent  by  the  Council,  with  Whitlocke,  to  the 
wife  of  Popham,  "  to  condole  with  her  on  the  loss  of 
her  husband,"  who  had  died  while  in  service;  and 
September  ist,  he  reports  to  Parliament  "letters  con- 
taining news  and  intelligence." 

How  stern  was  Vane's  fibre  is  indicated  by  an 
event  of  this  summer.  Evidence  was  discovered  in 
Scotland  of  a  correspondence  between  the  King  and 
certain  London  Presbyterians,  ministers  and  laymen, 
most  prominent  among  whom  was  the  Rev.  Chris- 
topher Love,  the  young  and  popular  minister  of  St 

1  Milton  Papers,  by  Nickolls,  pp.  78,  79,  quoted  by  Masson,  vi.  22. 


1651.]  DUNBAR  AND    WORCESTER.  359 

Lawrence  Jewry.  They  were  at  once  arrested  by  the 
Council  of  State,  and  condemned  to  death.  Love's 
case  excited  great  interest :  he  was  eloquent  and  de- 
voted, and  the  most  moving  petitions  poured  in  for 
his  life.  He  had  been  active  in  the  conspiracy,  his 
house  having  been  the  meeting-place;  but  Parliament 
was  nearly  equally  divided.  To  the  strong  disposition 
to  treat  leniently  the  pulpit  favorite,  was  opposed  the 
conviction  that  in  some  way  the  Presbyterian  clergy 
must  be  struck  with  terror,  and  of  this  sentiment 
Vane  was  the  leader.  Upon  a  division  as  to  whether 
he  should  have  a  respite  for  a  month,  Vane  was  a 
teller  for  the  negative,  a  fact  showing  his  interest  in 
the  matter.  By  a  narrow  majority  the  respite  was 
granted,  but  Vane  pressed  the  necessity  of  severity. 
Cromwell  was  strongly  urged  to  intercede,  and  Vane, 
about  July  22d,  writes  to  oppose  it.  He  is  daily  con- 
firmed in  his  opinion  that  Love  and  his  brethren  "  do 
still  retain  their  old  leaven,"  disingenuously  working 
on  the  weak  side  of  the  government  to  escape  with- 
out any  pledge  to  the  Commonwealth,  and  to  be  at 
full  liberty  still  to  treat  it  as  an  unlawful  magistracy. 
They  are  calculating  much  on  Cromwell,  making 
sure  that  he  will  cast  his  influence  on  the  side  of 
clemency  against  "  brother  Heron  who  is  taken  for 
a  back  friend  to  the  Black  Coats."  Vane's  policy 
prevailed.  Love  was  executed  August  22d,  the  very 
day  the  King  entered  Worcester. 

The  great  figure  in  all  these  scenes  is  the  mighty 
Oliver  no  doubt.  His  sword  lightens  and  smites, 
and  the  foe  is  scattered.  But  even  to  an  Oliver  are 
necessary  those  behind,  who  shall  prepare  and  store 


360  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1651. 

the  power  which  he  is  to  discharge,  and  in  the  fore- 
front of  these  always  and  everywhere  is  Vane.  After 
the  hot  fights  we  have  witnessed,  Worcester,  Sep- 
tember 3d,  anniversary  of  Dunbar,  was  but  child's- 
play.  There  was  no  general  uprising,  for  woe  thrice- 
told  was  threatened  by  the  Commonwealth,  ranked 
and  pitiless :  the  Scots  were  disheartened  and  out- 
numbered ;  the  day  was  shortly  decided.  For .  the 
last  time  on  English  soil  that  day  the  Ironsides  smote 
in  wrath.  Here  and  there  a  fugitive,  one  of  them 
the  young  King,  escaped.  For  the  most  part,  at 
nightfall  the  invaders  were  slain  or  captive.  The 
host  of  the  Duke  of  Lorraine,  expected  from  Hol- 
land, never  appeared.  What  private  message  may 
have  gone  from  Vane  to  his  heart's  brother  in  that 
hour  of  triumph,  that  "  Crowning  Mercy,1'  which 
established  the  good  cause,  we  do  not  know.  That 
Vane  poured  out  his  soul  may  well  be  believed,  and 
also  that  he  sought  Elizabeth,  Cromwell's  tenderly 
loved  wife,  with  all  the  splendid  details  of  her  hus- 
band's triumph.  On  September  Qth,  as  leader  of  the 
Council  of  State,  he  reports  for  the  commissioners 
sent  by  Parliament  to  the  Lord  General,  the  follow- 
ing instructions :  *  — 

"  You  are,  in  the  name  of  the  Parliament,  to  con- 
gratulate his  lordship's  good  recovery  of  health, 
after  his  dangerous  sickness ;  and  to  take  notice  of 
his  unwearied  labors  and  pains  in  the  late  expedi- 
tion into  Scotland,  for  the  service  of  this  Common- 
wealth ;  of  his  diligence  in  prosecution  of  the  enemy, 
when  he  fled  into  England;  of  the  great  hardships 

1  Commons  Journal. 


I65I-]  DUNBAR  AND    WORCESTER.  361 

and  hazards  he  hath  exposed  himself  unto,  and  par- 
ticularly in  the  late  fight  at  Worcester ;  of  the  pru- 
dent and  faithful  managing  and  conducting  through- 
out this  great  and  important  affair  which  the  Lord 
from  heaven  hath  so  signally  blessed  &  crowned 
with  so  complete  and  glorious  an  issue :  of  all  which 
you  are  to  make  known  to  his  lordship,  the  Parlia- 
ment have  thought  fit  by  you,  to  certify  their  good 
acceptance  and  great  satisfaction  therein :  and  for 
the  same  you  are  to  return  in  the  name  of  the  Par- 
liament and  Commonwealth  of  England,  their  most 
hearty  thanks :  as  also  to  the  rest  of  the  officers  and 
soldiers,  for  their  great  and  gallant  services  done  to 
this  Commonwealth.  You  are  likewise  to  let  his 
lordship  know,  that  since  by  the  great  blessing  of 
God  upon  his  lordship's  and  the  army's  endeavors, 
the  enemy  is  so  totally  defeated,  and  the  state  of 
affairs  as  well  in  England  as  Scotland,  such  as  may 
very  well  dispense  with  his  lordship's  continuance  in 
the  field,  they  do  desire  his  lordship  for  the  better  set- 
tlement of  his  health,  to  take  such  rest  and  repose  as 
he  shall  find  most  requisite  and  conducing  thereto : 
and  for  that  purpose  to  make  his  repair  to  and  resi- 
dence at,  or  near  this  place ;  whereby  also  the  Par- 
liament may  have  the  assistance  of  his  presence  in 
the  great  and  important  consultation  for  the  further 
settlement  of  the  Commonwealth  which  they  are  now 
upon." 

While  Cromwell  had  been  gaining  the  victory 
of  Worcester,  Monk,  whom  he  had  left  behind  in 
Scotland,  had  so  thoroughly  subdued  the  enemies  of 
the  Commonwealth  left  in  the  North,  that  no  foe 


362  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY   VANE.  [1651. 

remained  in  Great  Britain.  Ireton  in  October,  by  the 
capture  of  Limerick,  demolished  the  last  Irish  strong- 
hold. The  Commonwealth  was  embarrassed  with 
its  good  fortune.  What  to  do  with  the  thousands  of 
prisoners,  among  whom  were  the  most  distinguished 
of  their  opponents,  was  a  question  difficult  to  settle. 
Magnanimity  was  at  once  shown.  But  three  were 
executed ;  and  although  some  of  the  soldiers  were 
sent  as  convict  laborers  to  the  collieries  and  fens, 
and,  still  harder,  to  the  West  Indies  and  West  Afri- 
can coast,  most  of  these,  as  well  as  of  those  higher 
in  station,  were  suffered  at  last  to  return  on  easy 
conditions  to  their  homes.  Measures  were  taken  to 
incorporate  Scotland  with  the  Commonwealth,  a 
committee  of  eight  being  appointed  to  adjust  the 
details,  among  whom,  beside  the  brilliant  soldiers 
Lambert,  Monk,  and  Dean,  who  under  Cromwell 
had  been  the  main  instruments  of  the  subjugation, 
were  St.  John  and  Vane.  It  was  no  small  conde- 
scension, thinks  Godwin,1  that  Vane  and  St.  John  were 
on  this  committee.  The  Order  Books  show  that 
Vane  was  placed  September  i6th  on  the  committee 
"  to  have  power  to  dispose  to  plantations  all  the  pris- 
oners and  field  officers;"  and  also,  October  ist,  on 
the  committee  to  report  on  what  footing  the  Army 
should  be  placed.  Before  the  Commissioners  to 
Scotland  could  depart,  there  was  other  important 
business  that  must  be  noted. 

Let  the  reader  recall  here  Ireton's  "  Agreement  of 
the  People,"  that  admirable  summary  which,  antici- 
pating so  remarkably  the  reforms  already  gained  and 

1  Hist,  of  Common,  iii.  319. 


1651.]  DUNBAR  AND    WORCESTER.  363 

still  in  progress  in  England,  and  also  all  that  is  most 
essential  in  the  American  system,  gave  voice  there 
in  the  seventeenth  century  to  the  Republicanism 
that  had  at  last  fought  its  way  to  the  top.  Just  here, 
in  the  hour  of  triumph,  Ireton,  ablest  and  most  stal- 
wart of  the  Ironsides,  died  of  the  plague  in  Ireland. 
We  saw  him  first  breasting  Rupert's  charge  at 
Naseby  till  crippled  by  desperate  wounds.  Since 
then  he  has  become  Cromwell's  confidant,  adviser, 
bosom-friend,  at  last  the  husband  of  his  daughter 
Bridget,  and  entrusted  with  the  most  difficult  com- 
mand except  that  which  Oliver  reserved  for  himself. 
To  speculate  on  what  might  have  been  is  always  futile, 
but  it  is  reasonable  to  think  that  if  Ireton  could  have 
survived  Cromwell,  his  fine  powers  and  immense 
authority  among  the  Puritans  might  have  brought 
to  pass  a  better  consummation  than  the  Restoration. 
His  death,  in  the  midst  of  magnificent  services,  in 
the  prime  of  his  manhood,  was  a  great  blow  to  the 
Commonwealth,  which  he  had  such  an  influence  in 
shaping.  The  house  of  Ireton,  at  Highgate,  in 
North  London,  remains  largely  as  he  left  it.  Crom- 
well is  said  to  have  built  it  for  him,  and  the  apart- 
ments are  curiously  marked  with  the  Cromwellian 
impress.  Martial  emblems  stand  out  in  relief  from 
ceiling  and  chimney-piece,  but  finest  is  the  massive 
staircase  of  oak  in  the  centre  of  the  house.  The 
dark  timbers  are  ruggedly  hewn  in  various  places 
with  the  symbols  of  war,  and  each  post  of  the  bal- 
ustrade is  surmounted  by  a  figure  representing 
a  Roundhead  soldier.  Pikeman,  musketeer,  and 
drummer,  —  trumpeter  and  dragoon,  —  ensign  and 


364  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1651. 

halberdier,  —  there  stand  the  Ironsides,  capped  and 
corseleted,  booted  and  spurred,  carved  out  of  their 
kindred  oak  under  the  eye  of  the  mighty  leader  who 
called  them  into  being.  In  the  home  thus  decorated, 
Cromwell  is  said  often  to  have  sojourned  with  his 
daughter,  and  the  man  who  is  believed  to  have  been 
the  closest  neighbor  to  his  purpose.  Upon  Ireton's 
sumptuous  interment  in  Westminster  Abbey,  rugged 
Ludlow  poured  out  above  him  a  comrade's  tribute 
in  terms  which  have  something  of  the  heavy  roll  of 
a  volley  of  honor. 

"  If  he  could  have  foreseen  what  was  done  by 
them,  he  would  certainly  have  made  it  his  desire  that 
his  body  might  have  found  a  grave  where  his  soul 
left  it,  so  much  did  he  despise  those  pompous  and 
expensive  vanities,  having  erected  for  himself  a  more 
glorious  monument  in  the  hearts  of  good  men,  by 
his  affection  to  his  country,  his  abilities  of  mind,  his 
impartial  justice,  his  diligence  in  the  public  service, 
and  his  other  virtues,  which  were  a  far  greater  honor 
to  his  memory  than  a  dormitory  amongst  the  ashes 
of  Kings."1 

The  great  matter  of  doing  away  with  the  anoma- 
lous government  and  committing  the  country  to  a 
new  Parliament,  constituted  on  the  general  scheme 
of  Ireton's  Agreement  of  the  People,  had  never  been 
lost  sight  of.  Vane  had  been  all  along  the  leading 
spirit  of  the  committee,  constituted  at  the  outset  of 
the  Rump,  for  considering  how  Moses  might  best  be 

1  Memoirs^  i.  384.   Ludlow  succeeded  Ireton  in   the  command   in 
Ireland. 


1 6s I.]  D UNBAR  AND   WORCESTER.  365 

taken  out  of  his  mother's  care  and  put  upon  his  own 
feet.  On  January  9,  1650,  he  makes  the  commit- 
tee's first  report,  but,  as  we  have  seen,  it  was  felt 
that  in  the  midst  of  so  turbulent  and  deep  a  stream, 
horses  could  by  no  means  be  swapped.  In  the  year 
that  followed,  the  committee  met  more  than  fifty 
times,  nothing  decisive  being  done.  September  16, 
1651,  Cromwell  appeared  in  Parliament  for  the  first 
time  for  two  years,  and  at  once  announced  his  ear- 
nest desire  for  a  new  Parliament  and  popular  rep- 
resentation. In  this,  some  writers1  think  he  acted 
with  great  duplicity,  having  already  determined  for  a 
selfish  purpose  upon  making  himself  supreme  ruler. 
Others  hold2  that  his  sincerity  here  was  perfect,  as 
always,  but  that  Vane's  committee  from  the  begin- 
ning had  weakly  paltered.  A  truer  interpretation  of 
the  case  is,  that  Vane  and  his  friends  were  thor- 
oughly in  earnest,  and  did  all  that  at  the  time  could 
be  done,  —  that  Cromwell  too  was  equally  honest 
and  earnest.  The  committee  invited  the  help  of 
the  great  soldier  whose  weight  now  was  so  potent,3 
and  all  cooperated  most  heartily  in  trying  to  reach  a 
decision.  The  outcome,  November  18,  after  much 
debate,  was,  that  "  the  time  for  the  continuance  of 
this  Parliament,  beyond  which  they  resolve  not  to 
sit,  shall  be  the  3d  of  November,  1654."  There 
should  be  no  haste  ;  the  disturbed  country  should  be 
fully  settled ;  the  jarring  parties  should  be  concil- 

1  Forster,  Fane,  310.     Godwin,     Vane's  instructions  to   the   Com- 
iii.  304,  305.  mittee  for  congratulating  the  Lord 

2  Carlyle,  ii.  7.  General  after  Worcester,  p.  361. 
8  See   concluding    sentence    of 


366  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1652. 

iated  to  each  other ;  the  details  of  the  new  polity 
should  all  be  carefully  arranged ;  —  all  this  before 
the  great  step  was  taken. 

Next  day,  for  the  third  time,  a  Council  of  State 
was  elected,  the  term  of  the  Council  for  1651  ex- 
piring by  agreement  December  i,  instead  of  going 
on  until  February.  Cromwell  was  elected  unani- 
mously, Vane  nearly  so.  Robert  Blake,  now  grow- 
ing famous,  was  among  the  twenty  new  members 
among  the  forty-one.  Bradshaw,  for  three  years 
President,  ceased  now  to  be  so,  it  being  arranged 
that  henceforth  no  member  should  be  president  for 
more  than  one  month.  This  having  been  accom- 
plished, Vane  departed  with  his  fellows  for  Scotland, 
one  hopes  finding  some  relief  and  recreation  in  the 
northern  journey.  The  business  of  incorporation 
was  managed  with  humanity  and  wisdom.  Many  of 
the  Scotch  acquiesced  with  cordiality  in  the  meas- 
ure as  the  best  issue  practicable  out  of  the  troubles ; 
but  most,  probably,  felt  with  the  Rev.  Mr.  Blair  of 
St.  Andrews :  "  As  for  the  embodying  of  Scotland 
with  England,  it  will  be  as  when  the  puir  bird  is 
embodied  into  the  hawk  that  hath  eaten  it  up."1 
March  i6th,  Vane,  evidently  just  returned,  reports 
to  Parliament  the  proceedings  of  the  committee.2 

In  the  Council  of  State,  seven  great  standing  Com- 
mittees performed  the  business:  Ordnance,  Admi- 
ralty and  Navy,  Ireland  and  Scotland,  Examinations 
and  Informations,  Conference  with  Army-Officers, 
Law,  and  the  Mint.  The  prominent  men  served  on 
two  or  more  of  these  Committees.  We  have  seen 

1  Masson,  iv.  363.  a  Journal  of  Commons. 


1652.]  DUNBAR  AND    WORCESTER.  367 

that  in  the  previous  years  Vane's  activity  was  not  at 
all  circumscribed  :  so  at  present.  The  Order-Books 
show  that  there  was  no  direction  in  which  his  aid 
was  not  rendered.  Parliament  still  continued  small, 
the  Long  Parliament  diminished  to  scarcely  more 
than  a  tenth  of  the  five  hundred  who  had  gathered 
at  Westminster  in  1640,  though  upon  occasions  of 
unusual  interest  more  than  a  hundred  could  be  con- 
vened. One  may  trace  an  uneasy  feeling  in  both 
Council  and  Parliament  under  the  great  overshadow- 
ing personality  that  was  now  always  close  at  hand. 
Cromwell's  work  as  a  soldier  was  done,  one  of  the 
most  extraordinary  accomplishments  of  the  sword 
since  the  world  began.  For  the  time  being  he  min- 
gled little  in  public  business,  moving  about  White- 
hall, sometimes  in  soldier's  dress,  more  often  as  an 
ordinary  citizen  in  dark  doublet  and  breeches  and 
gray  worsted  stockings.  If  he  looked  into  the  Coun- 
cil Chamber,  or  sat  down  for  a  time  "  in  an  ordinary 
place  as  was  his  wont,"  in  St.  Stephen's,  there  was 
a  flutter  of  deferential  courtesy  at  his  coming  and 
going.  He  did  little  more  than  observe,  while  others 
acted.  February  25th,  a  general  amnesty  was  pro- 
claimed for  all  treasons  committed  up  to  the  date 
of  the  battle  of  Worcester,  the  sole  condition  being 
the  signing  of  an  engagement  "  to  be  faithful  to  the 
Commonwealth  as  now  established  without  King  or 
House  of  Lords."  Before  such  magnificent  successes 
accompanied  by  such  leniency,  even  Royalists  began 
to  doubt  whether  the  Stuarts  were  essential  to  Eng- 
land, and  adhesions  to  the  Commonwealth  became 
numerous. 


368  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1652. 

Victory  made  vast  impression  abroad  as  well  as  at 
home.  The  Independent  cannon  had  been  heard  on 
sea  as  well  as  land  :  Blake  had  shattered  Rupert  and 
shown  himself  with  threatening  broadsides  in  many 
a  foreign  port.  The  northern  powers,  Sweden  at 
the  head,  had  grown  obsequious :  Portugal  became 
deferential,  and  Spain  sought  alliance  :  France,  weak- 
ened by  the  Fronde,  deprecated  hostility  :'•  Holland 
felt  the  force  of  St.  John's  threat  at  the  close  of  his 
unsuccessful  mission  of  the  previous  year,  followed  up 
as  it  soon  was  by  a  noteworthy  act  of  aggression, 
presently  to  be  described.  In  the  lull  of  conflict, 
attempts  at  a  better  order  were  made  by  Parliament 
in  various  directions.  Law  reforms  were  under- 
taken. The  Army  in  particular,  as  Whitlocke  puts 
it,  had  a  "  peek  "  at  lawyers,  and  found  a  blunt  spokes- 
man in  old  Pride,  who  had  been  heard  "  to  wish,  and 
almost  to  hope,  that  the  lawyers  gowns  might  all  be 
hung  up  beside  the  Scots  colors  yet  [the  Preston 
and  Dunbar  trophies  in  Westminster  Hall],  and  the 
lawyers  selves,  except  some  very  small  and  most  se- 
lect needful  remnant,  be  ordered  peremptorily  to  dis- 
appear from  those  localities  and  seek  an  honest  trade 
elsewhere ! " 1 

Very  interesting  was  the  scheme  presented  by 
Independent  ministers  in  February  for  a  State 
Church,  much  less  formal  than  Presbyterianism,  and 
with  a  limited  toleration  for  dissenters.  That  there 
should  be  any  limitation  to  toleration,  or  any  State 
Church,  anything  but  absolute  Voluntaryism,  seemed 
to  some  an  outrage,  among  others  to  Cromwell  and 

1  Carlyle,  1.471,472. 


THE  GREAT  SEAL  OF  THE  COMMONWEALTH. 

NOTE.  This  seal  presents  as  Sovereign  of  England,  not  the  figure  of  a  King,  but  the  Parliament  in 
session  in  St.  Stephen's.  The  design  and  motto  are  said,  upon  the  authority  of  VVhitlocke,  to  have  been 
furnished  by  Henry  Marten. 


1652.]  DUNBAR  AND    WORCESTER.  369 

Vane,  the  former  of  whom  declared,  "  he  had  rather 
that  Mahometanism  were  permitted  among  us,  than 
that  one  of  God's  children  among  us  should  be  per- 
secuted." A  protest  was  made  against  the  plan  for 
a  State  Church,  liberal  as  it  was  as  compared  with  all 
previous  schemes,  and  this  protest  is  believed 1  to 
have  been  written  by  no  other  than  the  American, 
Roger  Williams.  He  was  now  again  in  England, 
much  with  Vane  at  his  house  in  Charing  Cross,  and 
hand  in  glove  with  him  and  all  the  more  advanced 
spirits  of  the  time.  His  "  Bloudy  Tenent  "  ten  years 
before  had  been  one  of  the  first  announcements  of 
the  Tolerationists.  At  this  time  he  followed  it 
up  with  the  "  Bloudy  Tenent  yet  more  Bloudy  by 
Mr.  Cotton's  Endeavour  to  wash  it  clean  &c,"  and 
the  "  Hireling  Ministry."  Charles  Vane,  Henry's 
younger  brother,  also  a  noted  man  in  those  days,  was 
prominent  in  making  the  protest.  We  find  young 
Sir  Henry  himself  trying  to  shield  the  Catholics2 
from  persecution,  and  also  Unitarians.3  His  own 
strange,  unintelligible  faith,  hereafter  to  be  referred 
to,  was  as  far  from  the  one  as  the  other,  but  liberty 
of  conscience  had  become  with  him  more  than  ever 
a  cardinal  principle. 

1  Masson,  iv.  397  note.  *  Lingard,  xi.  pp.  137,  179. 

8  Case  of  Biddle,  Godwin,  iii. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

BLAKE     AND    VAN    TROMP. 

THE  lull  in  the  battle-storm  was  but  short.  The 
Commonwealth  was  to  test  its  strength  in  a  foreign 
war,  a  wrestle  of  the  fiercest,  to  which  we  must  now 
turn.  St.  John,  returning  unsuccessful  from  Hol- 
land, was  the  main  agent  through  whom  Parliament 
was  induced  to  pass  the  "  Act  of  Navigation,"  a  fa- 
mous measure  which  affected  English  history  for 
two  hundred  years,  and  which  had  an  important  re- 
lation to  events  in  our  own  Revolutionary  War.  The 
provisions  of  the  act  briefly  were  that  all  products 
from  foreign  lands  should  be  conveyed  to  England 
either  in  British  ships  or  ships  of  the  country  pro- 
ducing the  merchandise.  It  was  a  heavy  blow  at  the 
commerce  of  Holland,  which  at  that  time,  while  pro- 
ducing little,  possessed  the  carrying  trade  of  the  world, 
an  important  part  of  which  was  the  conveying  to  Eng- 
land of  foreign  merchandise.  Not  unreasonably  the 
Commonwealth  preferred  to  take  into  its  own  hands 
its  own  trade,  out  of  the  power  of  the  neighbor, 
which,  although  nominally  Republican  and  to  some 
extent  sympathizing  with  the  Independent  struggle, 
had  so  far,  for  the  most  part,  offered  aid  and  comfort 
to  the  Stuarts.  The  Dutch  sought  to  arrive  at  some 


1652.]  BLAKE  AND    VAN   TROMP.  371 

accommodation,  and  obsequious  negotiators  appeared 
in  London,  whose  tone  toward  the  Commonwealth 
was  in  marked  contrast  to  the  superciliousness  with 
which  the  young  Hercules  had  been  treated  before 
he  had  strangled  the  snakes  about  his  cradle.  But 
while  the  diplomats  conversed,  the  nations  drifted 
into  war  in  spite  of  them.  The  sailors  on  both  sides 
were  full  of  fight.  The  sea  of  those  days  was  a  do- 
main which  knew  little  of  law.  Isolated  ships  came 
to  blows.  Courtesies  punctiliously  exacted  on  the 
one  side,  the  dipping  of  the  ensign,  or  backing  the 
top  sail,  were  purposely  neglected  on  the  other. 
Blake  at  length  fell  into  collision,  off  Dover,  with 
Van  Tromp,  the  Dutch  champion,  two  squadrons 
heavily  cannonading  one  another.  Efforts  at  peace 
became  hopeless.  From  the  green-table  at  White- 
hall, discussion  was  adjourned  to  the  broad  blue 
field,  where  the  voices  were  to  be  more  thunderous. 
In  this  war  of  giants,  Vane  really  more  than  any  other 
is  the  central  figure.  Nothing  in  English  story  is 
more  marvellous ;  not  elsewhere  in  his  career  did 
Vane  give  such  extraordinary  evidences  of  power. 
Let  us  take  a  careful  glance  at  these  mildewed 
Order-Books,  and  see  what  help  they  will  afford  in 
giving  definiteness  to  his  image  in  this  time. 

Immediately  after  the  election  of  the  third  Council 
of  State,  Vane,  December  2d,  the  day  of  organization, 
is  put  at  the  head  of  a  large  committee  for  manag- 
ing the  affairs  of  Ireland  and  Scotland,  and  is  also 
on  committees  to  consider  the  obstructions  of  the 
Mint,  to  take  care  for  preserving  timber,  and  to  con- 
sider the  matter  of  giving  audience  to  the  ministers 


372  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1652. 

of  foreign  princes.  December  4th,  he  is  put  at  the 
head  of  the  Admiralty  and  Navy  Committee  as  be- 
fore, and  December  i  yth  placed  on  a  Committee  for 
Trade  and  Foreign  Affairs.  Upon  his  return  from 
his  absence  in  Scotland,  he  is  soon,  April  2d,  added  to 
the  Committee  to  meet  the  Dutch  ambassadors,  and 
to  that  on  French  affairs,  and  on  May  i4th  he  is  on 
that  charged  with  sending  an  ambassador  to  Turkey. 
On  the  i  yth  of  May,  Vane  is  chosen  "  to  be  Presi- 
dent of  the  Council  until  this  day  month."  During 
that  period  he  was  the  official  head  of  the  nation. 
It  cannot  be  regarded,  however,  as  a  distinction,  for 
as  the  year  went  forward,  obscure  members  of  the 
Council  are  to  be  found  in  the  same  position,  some- 
times twice  over.  The  time  of  Vane's  presidency 
was  an  important  one.  In  that  month  fall  Van 
Tromp's  attack  upon  Blake  in  the  Downs  (the  an- 
chorage between  the  Goodwin  Sands  and  the  coast 
of  Kent),  and  the  extraordinary  embassy  sent  by  the 
States  General  of  Holland  to  make  a  last  attempt  at 
peace.  June  8th,  authority  is  given  to  receive  the 
ambassador  with  great  splendor  and  ceremony,  which 
is  accordingly  done.  The  embassy  is  without  result. 
The  records  now  become  filled  with  preparations  for 
a  tremendous  war,  every  line  giving  evidence  of  the 
careful  watch  kept  by  the  Council  of  State  upon  the 
affair,  and  the  determination  to  guide  all  movements 
so  far  as  possible  from  the  centre.  June  i8th,  Blake 
is  addressed  :  "  We  wrote  you  last  night  that  we  ap- 
proved of  your  fitting  out  the  three  Dutch  men-of- 
war  brought  in  by  you  ;  and  we  now  hear  there  is  a 
fourth.  We  approve  of  that  being  fitted  out  also.' 


1652.]  BLAKE  AND    VAN   TROMP.  373 

Blake  is  also  commanded,  a  little  later :  "  A  constant 
correspondence  is  to  be  held  between  you  and  the 
Council,  and  between  yourself  and  other  parts  of  the 
fleet,  by  small  vessels  to  be  constantly  sent  between 
to  give  intelligence."  Powder,  cannon,  provisions, 
stores  of  all  kinds  are  cared  for  as  the  struggle  deep- 
ens, the  naval  business  absorbing  the  record  almost 
completely.  Vane's  committee  orders  in  August  the 
"  Sovereign,"  "  Antelope,"  "  Lion,"  "  London,"  "  Lit- 
tle President,"  and  "  Renown,"  fire-ship,  to  hasten 
away  forthwith ;  and  in  case  they  are  not  ready  to 
sail,  sharply  examines  the  reasons.  Men  from  In- 
goldsby's  regiment  at  Dover  are  put  on  board  the 
"  Sovereign  "  to  man  her.  Money  from  the  sale  of 
delinquents'  estates  is  appropriated  to  the  paying  off 
of  crews.  Vane  himself  goes  down  to  the  fleet  in 
October,  we  may  suppose  making  his  way  on  the  ebb 
by  sail  and  oar  to  Gravesend,  to  confer  personally 
with  Blake,  and  see  with  his  own  eye  the  craft  to 
which  the  honor  and  safety  of  England  are  entrusted. 
As  the  war  grows  more  terrible,  through  Vane's  com- 
mittee thousands  of  soldiers  are  sent  to  the  fighting- 
ships  to  take  the  place  of  the  destroyed  crews.  Merit 
is  promoted,  inefficiency  cashiered.  The  Admirals 
after  battles  write  to  Vane  about  the  condition  of 
their  squadrons ;  the  recruiters  report  the  tricks  re- 
sorted to  by  men  to  avoid  the  sea  service ;  the  sur- 
geons give  evidence  of  the  severity  of  the  actions. 
After  an  engagement  at  which  we  shall  presently 
look  particularly,  Surgeon  Dan  Whistler  writes  to  Sir 
Henry  Vane,  Junior :  "  The  scattered  quarters  of  the 
sick  and  wounded  makes  a  difficulty.  If  some  capa- 


374  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1652. 

cious  place,  with  good  air,  water,  and  convenience  of 
landing,  were  procured,  it  would  prevent  their  long 
exposure  before  they  are  received  anywhere."  Of 
Blake,  who  had  been  wounded,  Whistler  writes :  "  Gen. 
Blake,  I  hope,  mends,  but  my  hopes  are  checked  by 
the  maxim,  '  De  senibus  non  temere  sperandum!  I 
trust  the  great  physician's  protection  may  be  on  him, 
and  on  all  public  instruments  of  our  safety." 

Where  in  the  rush  of  the  war  there  is  mention  in 
the  records  of  other  business,  Vane  is  found  promi- 
nent as  well  as  in  the  conduct  of  hostilities.  Novem- 
ber 8th,  he  reports  to  the  House  a  state  of  the  several 
treasuries  of  this  nation  as  represented  to  the  Coun- 
cil. November  26th,  he  is  to  present  to  the  House 
to-morrow  the  estimate  of  the  charge  of  the  land  as 
well  as  the  sea  forces  in  the  service.  At  the  coming 
in  of  the  new  Council,  at  the  beginning  of  December, 
to  which  he  is  elected  nearly  unanimously,  his  name 
stands  first  on  the  Committee  for  Ireland  and  Scot- 
land as  well  as  for  the  Admiralty.  He  is  prominent 
too  in  the  management  of  Trade  and  the  Plantations, 
of  Diplomacy,  and  of  Finance. 

No  doubt  the  Generals  and  Admirals  on  the  spot 
deserve  the  chief  credit  when  great  victories  are 
gained.  But  who  does  not  know  that  General  and 
Admiral  would  be  paralyzed  if  there  were  not  be- 
hind them  the  energetic  administrator  ?  What  would 
Wrolfe  have  been  without  the  elder  Pitt,  what  Nelson 
without  the  younger  ?  What  Turenne  and  Luxem- 
bourg without  Louvois  and  Colbert  —  what  the  mar- 
shals of  a  later  time  without  Carnot  ?  So  in  these 
years  behind  Blake  stood  Vane,  as  he  had  before 


1652.]  BLAKE  AND    VAN  TROMP.  375 

stood  behind  Cromwell.  Back  of  all  the  shipbuild- 
ing, recruiting,  cannon-founding,  provisioning,  stands 
at  the  centre,  in  the  great  days  of  the  Common- 
wealth, Vane's  committee.  By  their  orders  Blake, 
Dean,  and  Monk  go  to  sea :  the  forests  are  felled : 
tar  and  cordage,  powder  and  guns  and  canvas,  are 
seized  wherever  they  are  to  be  had :  merit  is  pro- 
moted, inefficiency  cashiered,  captains  and  crews  that 
show  the  white  feather  sternly  disciplined.  Those 
were  the  most  brilliant  years  of  English  history,  and 
the  great  administrator  of  the  period  should  have  his 
place  beside  the  sworded  heroes,  those  who  led  the 
troop,  and  those  who  trod  the  deck. 

Vane's  first  biographer,  Sikes,  who  had  known  him 
well,  was  but  a  purblind  character,  managing  with  ex- 
traordinary skill  to  avoid  the  mention  in  his  account 
of  all  that  is  most  interesting  in  the  career  of  his 
hero.  He  does,  however,  contrive  to  assert  *  Vane's 
sagacity,  energy,  and  self-sacrifice  at  this  great  pe- 
riod, and  evidence  abounds  that  he  makes  no  exces- 
sive claim.  "  That  he  could  conjecture  and  spel  out 
the  most  reserved  consults  and  secret  drifts  of  for- 
eign Councils  against  us  (which  they  reckoned  as 
tacita,  concealed  till  executed)  the  Hollanders  did  ex- 
perience to  their  cost."  He  had  "  a  most  happy  dex- 
terity at  making  a  war."  He  "heartily  labored  to 
prevent  a  war  with  Holland,"  but  being  in  "  set  him- 
self to  make  the  best  of  it.  ...  With  five  others  he 
was  appointed  by  Parliament  to  attend  that  affaire. 

1  Sikes,  Life  and  Death  of  Sir  lent  me  from  the  Harvard  Library 
Henry  Vane,  Kt.,  p.  96  etc.  The  by  Mr.  Justin  Winsor,  belonged 
copy  which  I  have  used,  kindly  formerly  to  Carlyle. 


376  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1652. 

Hereupon  he  became  the  happy  and  speedy  contriver 
of  that  successful  fleet  that  did  our  work  in  a  very 
critical  season,  when  the  Hollander  vapoured  upon 
our  Seas.  .  .  .  His  report  to  the  House  as  to  the 
War-ships  by  him  recruited,  ordered,  and  sent  forth  in 
so  little  time,  to  find  the  enemy  work,  seemed  a  thing 
incredible."  At  the  beginning  of  the  war  he  resigned 
the  Treasurership  of  the  Navy,  the  recognized  yield 
of  which  to  the  incumbent,  in  war-time,  Sikes  de- 
clares would  have  been  ,£20,000  a  year.  "  Parlia- 
ment gave  him  an  inconsiderable  something  in  lieu 
thereof,  without  his  seeking."  Sikes  hints  that  he 
was  at  this  time  embarrassed.  At  the  time  of  the 
Self-denying  Ordinance  he  refunded  half  of  his  re- 
ceipts as  Treasurer  of  the  Navy.  From  first  to  last 
he  showed  the  most  perfect  integrity  and  unselfish- 
ness, and  was  completely  above  bribes. 

Sikes  is  by  no  means  alone  among  his  contempo- 
raries in  high  praise  of  Vane.  Ludlow  is  not  less 
strong.1  By  far  the  grandest  testimony,  however,  is 
the  sonnet  of  Milton,  sent  Vane,  July  3d,  which  is 
given  here,  punctuation,  italics,  and  capitals,  pre- 
cisely as  first  printed. 

"  COMPOSED  BY  A  LEARNED  GENTLEMAN,  AND  SENT  HIM,  JULY  3, 

1652.2 

VANE,  young  in  years,  but  in  sage  Counsel  old, 
Than  whom  a  better  Senatour  ner'e  held 
The  helme  of  Rome,  when  Gowns  not  Arms  repell'd 
The  fierce  Efieirot  and  the  African  bold. 
Whether  to  settle  peace  or  to  unfold 

The  drift  of  hollow  states,  hard  to  be  spell' d, 
Then  to  advise  how  war  may  best,  upheld, 
Move  by  her  two  main  Nerves,  Iron  and  Gold 

1  Memoirs,  ii.  439.  2  Sikes,  pp.  93,  94. 


1652.]  BLAKE  AND    VAN  TROMP.  377 

In  all  her  equipage  :  besides  to  know 

Both  spiritual  power  and  civil,  what  each  meanes, 

What  severs  each,  thou  hast  learn't,  which  few  have  done. 

The  bounds  of  either  sword  to  thee  we  owe; 
Therefore  on  thy  firm  hand  Religion  leanes 
In  peace,  and  reckons  thee  her  eldest  Son." 

So  spoke  for  Vane  the  man  "  whose  soul  was  like 
a  star  and  dwelt  apart,"  now  not  recognized,  for  his 
finest  splendors  were  as  yet  reserved.  To  the  world 
he  was  the  fierce  pamphleteer  by  whose  fulminations 
"  more  than  anything  else  except  the  battle  of  Wor- 
cester, the  foreign  world  had  been  awakened  to  the 
claims  and  strength  of  the  Commonwealth,  and 
Kings  and  other  powers  had  been  brought  to  it  al- 
most on  their  knees."  *  The  sonnet  to  Vane  is  con- 
temporary with  the  one  to  Cromwell,  and  though  in 
the  latter  Cromwell  is  "  our  chief  of  men,"  the  lan- 
guage applied  to  Vane  is  scarcely  less  strong.  What 
impressive  testimony  that  Milton,  observing  close  at 
hand  the  transactions  at  the  heart  of  things,  sees  in 
Vane  such  purity  of  character  and  magnificence  of 
endowment !  It  is  worth  while  to  spend  a  few  mo- 
ments in  analyzing  the  sonnet,  especially  since  its 
long-drawn  music,  adapted  to  a  generation  thrice 
sifted  and  seasoned,  makes  it  not  altogether  clear  to 
the  short-winded  comprehension  of  our  less  stalwart 
time. 

Like  the  sonnet  to  Cromwell,  that  to  Vane  was 
immediately  occasioned  by  the  deep  interest  felt  by 
Milton  in  the  defeat  of  the  plan  for  establishing  a 
State  Church.  Note  has  been  made  of  the  measure 
and  of  the  protest  against  it,  penned  perhaps  by 

1  Masson,  iv.  428. 


378  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1652. 

Roger  Williams,  and  presented  February  loth  of 
this  same  year.  Milton  in  one  sonnet  adjures  Crom- 
well to  give  his  help  here,  and  in  the  other  recog- 
nizes with  all  admiration  Vane's  clear  adhesion  to 
Voluntaryism,  the  principle,  the  American  principle 
it  may  be  said,  that  State  and  Church  must  be  dis- 
tinct, —  that  no  sect  should  be  privileged,  —  that  the 
civil  magistrate  must  lay  no  trammels  upon  religion. 
In  the  enthusiastic  apostrophe  with  which  the  sonnet 
opens,  the  man  of  forty  is  invested  in  our  eyes  with 
that  glamour  of  youth,  which,  circumstanced  as  he 
was,  surrounded  him  long  after  the  time  when  for 
most  men  youth  has  faded ;  and  in  comparing  him  to 
the  Roman  senator  a  picture  is  suggested  of  the  re- 
pelling of  force  by  dignity  and  moral  strength  rather 
than  by  weapons.  "  Thou  hast  learned,  as  few  have 
done,  what  spiritual  and  civil  power  mean,  and  how 
they  must  be  kept  apart.  To  thee  we  owe  the  draw- 
ing of  a  clear  line  between  the  secular  and  the  reli- 
gious, and  therefore  a  discrimination  of  the  bounds 
of  either  sword."  As  the  verse  proceeds,  the  great 
war-administrator  falls  under  the  poetic  light,  the  pro- 
vider of  iron  and  the  provider  of  gold :  we  find  em- 
phasized, too,  that  matchless  astuteness  (to  which 
Milton  takes  no  exception,  however  others  may  some- 
times hesitate)  through  which  now  the  scheming  of 
petty  plotters  is  so  effectually  circumvented,  now  the 
underhand  policy  of  great  nations.  How  beautiful 
the  immortality  to  which  Vane  in  the  concluding  line 
is  uplifted,  as  the  eldest  son  and  the  mainstay  of 
Religion  ! 


1652.]  BLAKE  AND    VAN  TROMP.  379 

The  biographer  of  Vane  may  be  spared  the  labor  of 
giving  the  details  of  the  ocean  war  with  Holland,  but 
can  properly  afford  his  readers  a  glimpse  of  blue  water. 

How  could  foreign  nations  look  otherwise  than 
askance  upon  a  sight  so  portentous  as  the  rise  of 
the  English  Commonwealth  ?  France  had  never  had 
more  than  the  faintest  semblance  of  popular  govern- 
ment :  it  had  been  crushed  out  in  Spain  two  hundred 
years  before :  it  had  disappeared  in  Italy  with  the 
Hohenstauffen  in  the  thirteenth  century:  Germany, 
which  the  Thirty  Years'  War  had  left  scarcely  more 
than  an  ash-heap  full  of  skeletons,  was  given  over  to 
brutish  tyrants  :  Denmark  was  hostile  :  from  the  ec- 
centric Christina  of  Sweden  no  countenance  could 
be  expected.  In  Holland,  indeed,  there  was  sympa- 
thy, and  it  seemed  hard  enough  that  the  Common- 
wealth should  be  forced  to  wage  its  first  and  hardest 
fight  with  Holland.  It  came  about  in  this  way.  The 
stadtholder  of  Holland,  the  young  William  of  Or- 
ange, who  had  married  the  eldest  daughter  of  the 
beheaded  Charles,  not  only  offered  an  asylum  to  his 
brother-in-law,  Charles  II,  but  to  a  crowd  of  fugitive 
Royalists.  The  Orange  or  aristocratic  party  was  too 
strong  for  the  Republicans.  When,  therefore,  the 
Commonwealth  proposed  a  close  league  if  not  union 
with  the  Dutch,  the  idea  was  rejected.  When  it 
passed  the  Act  of  Navigation  designed  to  take  Eng- 
lish commerce  out  of  the  hands  of  the  Dutch,  Hol- 
land was  greatly  incensed.  When,  moreover,  the 
English  refused  to  allow  to  Holland  such  an  empire 
of  the  sea  as  that  they  should  not  be  recognized  as 
masters  in  their  own  waters,  war  broke  out,  and 


380  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1652. 

nothing  more  terrible  has  ever  been  seen  upon  the 
sea  than  the  naval  struggle  which  now  ensued. 

The  war  broke  out  in  May,  1652,  and  was  entirely 
upon  the  ocean.  Holland  was  then  at  the  height  of 
her  power,  by  no  means  a  land  of  dull-witted,  vege- 
tating people,  as  Americans  too  often  suppose,  bas- 
ing their  notion  upon  the  injurious  caricatures  of 
Washington  Irving,  but  the  glorious  race  which  had 
made  itself  beyond  all  rivalry  master  of  the  deep. 
Cooped  up  in  their  little  corner  of  Europe,  beset 
both  by  nature  and  man,  holding  their  hard-won  ter- 
ritory against  the  waves  by  dikes,  against  man  by 
hearts  and  arms  as  stout  as  ever  belonged  to  heroes, 
they  possessed  more  ships  than  all  the  rest  of  Europe 
put  together,  had  founded  colonies  at  the  ends  of  the 
earth,  and  had  the  carrying-trade  of  the  world.  They 
had  just  baffled  and  brought  to  naught  the  might  of 
Spain,  though  Spain  was  almost  mistress  of  two 
hemispheres.  What  wonder  that  they  entered  into 
the  conflict  with  the  new-born  power  which  the 
Ironsides  had  set  up,  with  the  highest  hopes  of 
success ! 

The  face  of  the  deep  in  the  seventeenth  century 
was  fraught  with  terror  and  mystery.  To  this  day 
sailors  are  the  most  superstitious  of  men.  Then,  an 
uncanny  population  of  dragons,  monsters,  and  chi- 
meras dire  filled  earth,  air,  and  ocean.  Sands,  shores, 
and  desert  wildernesses  had  their  airy  forms  that 
syllable  men's  names.  Every  sailor 

"  Learned  when,  beneath  the  tropic  gale, 
Full  swelled  the  vessel's  steady  sail, 
And  the  broad  Indian  moon  her  light 
Poured  on  the  watch  of  middle  night,  — 


1652.]  BLAKE  AND    VAN  TROMP.  381 

What  gales  are  sold  on  Lapland's  shore,  — 
How  whistle  rash  bids  tempests  roar,  — 
Of  witch,  of  mermaid,  and  of  sprite, 
And  of  the  dread  St.  Elmo's  light  : 
Or  of  that  phantom  ship,  whose  form 
Shoots  like  a  meteor  through  the  storm; 
When  the  dark  scud  comes  driving  hard, 
And  lowered  is  every  top-sail  yard, 
And  canvas  wove  in  earthly  looms, 
No  more  to  brave  the  storm  presumes  ! 
Then  mid  the  war  of  sea  and  sky, 
Top  and  top-gallant  hoisted  high, 
Full  spread  and  crowded  every  sail, 
The  Demon  Frigate  braves  the  gale  ; 
And  well  the  doomed  spectators  know 
The  harbinger  of  wreck  and  woe  !  "  J 

The  ocean  too  had  other  than  phantom  dangers. 
Laws  which  on  the  land  had  sway  had  little  force 
upon  the  sea.  Most  sailors  were  more  or  less  light- 
fingered,  taking  with  little  ceremony  wherever  in 
their  rovings  they  encountered  those  weaker  than 
themselves;  and  professed  pirates  abounded  every- 
where. By  every  frequented  Indian  cape  and  strait 
lay  the  Malay  proas.  The  Barbary  freebooters 
roved  the  Mediterranean  unchecked,  and  went  far 
beyond  the  straits  of  Gibraltar.  The  western  waters 
had  their  buccaneers,  burying  their  booty  upon  des- 
olate sand-keys,  then  murdering  upon  the  spot  some 
negro  or  captive  Spaniard,  that  his  ghost,  haunting 
the  place,  might  frighten  off  all  searchers.  Old  pic- 
tures give  the  seventeenth-century  sailor  a  strange 
garb  —  a  sort  of  kilt  or  petticoat  like  a  Highlander, 
a  striped  shirt,  a  crimson  cap,  a  knife  always  at  his 
girdle,  if  not  cutlass  and  pistols.  Daring  vagabonds 
they  were,  venturing  with  Frobisher  and  Hudson  into 

1  Rokeby,  Canto  II.  n. 


382  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1653. 

Arctic  ice,  breasting  tropic  hurricanes,  and  coasting 
the  lee-shores  of  far-off  dangerous  waters  in  the  track 
of  Drake  and  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert,  —  their  craft 
sometimes  only  half  decked,  scarcely  larger  than  the 
launch  which  the  modern  liner  carries  housed  upon 
her  quarter,  believing  in  but  defying  phantom  perils, 
—  at  each  headland  and  island,  watchful  of  necessity 
against  robbers.  How  rough,  how  lawless,  how  pic- 
turesque the  race !  This  life  and  character  so  wild 
must  be  taken  into  account,  in  order  to  understand 
the  astonishing  tenacity  and  fierceness  of  the  fight- 
ing in  the  war  now  to  be  considered. 

The  theatre  of  the  war  was  what  is  known  as  the 
"  Narrow  Seas," — the  English  Channel  and  the  Ger- 
man Ocean.  After  a  stormy  winter  voyage,  on  the 
8th  of  February,  once,  as  the  present  writer  came, 
weak  with  seasickness,  upon  deck,  he  found  the  sun 
warm  and  bright  as  May  almost,  driving  before  it  the 
heavy  fog.  The  sea  at  last  was  smooth  ;  beyond  it 
to  the  northward  rose,  dim,  a  fine  bold  line  of  shore, 
towards  which  the  heart  turned  with  a  double  long- 
ing. To  a  sea-tired  man,  it  was  the  first  land ;  to  a 
son  of  the  Anglo  Saxon  race,  it  was  the  old  home. 
The  cape  was  the  Lizard,  the  southwest  point  of 
England,  at  the  entrance  to  the  English  Channel. 
Soon  the  Lizard  grew  fainter  as  we  steered  eastward ; 
the  land  receded  on  the  left  until  the  gazer  almost 
felt  that,  Ixion-like,  he  had  embraced  a  cloud.  But 
as  the  forenoon  proceeded,  the  shore  rose  again,  this 
time  into  Start  Point,  close  by  Plymouth.  Once 
more  there  was  a  trend  of  the  shore  inward ;  once 
more,  in  front,  beyond  the  sea,  now  sail-dotted,  rose  a 


I6S3-]  BLAKE  AND    VAN  TROMP.  383 

high,  bold  bluff,  this  time  the  Bill  of  Portland.  Then, 
after  the  moon  rose,  it  was  St.  Alban's  Head,  and  at 
last  the  Needles,  at  the  western  end  of  the  Isle  of 
Wight.  Thus,  all  day,  we  shot  from  cape  to  cape 
across  the  bays,  with  far-off  glimpses  into  Cornwall, 
Devon,  Dorset,  and  Hampshire.  Even  then  upon 
the  fields  there  was  a  tinge  of  spring  green ;  once, 
over  a  hill,  a  rainbow  hung  in  a  cloud  of  vapor.  The 
blue  line  inland  was  soft  and  undulating ;  the  great 
capes  rose  bald  and  bleak,  their  storm-worn  ledges 
beating  back  the  surf  like  doubled  knuckles.  So  the 
majestic  brotherhood,  the  headlands  of  the  Channel, 
passed  us  on,  one  to  another,  until  we  were  sheltered 
in  the  Solent.  On  deck  betimes  the  next  morning,  it 
was  revealed  that  we  were  just  between  Dover  and 
Calais.  Southeast  the  eye  could  make  out  distinctly 
a  high,  wavy  coast-line  —  France.  Nearer,  to  the 
north  and  west,  was  the  white  shore  of  Albion.  The 
wind  blew  bitter  cold  out  of  the  North  Sea.  One 
thought  of  Lear  and  Edgar,  as  the  Shakespeare  Cliff 
looked  through  the  air  sharp  as  ingratitude. 

The  white  beacon  now  was  on  the  South  Fore- 
land, the  crowded  anchorage  in  front  the  Downs,  the 
light-ship,  rocking  on  the  combing  wintry  sea,  marked 
the  Goodwin  sands  where  the  carcasses  of  more  tall 
ships  lie  buried  than  on  any  other  wrecking-ground 
of  the  world.  All  to  seaward  was  black  with  storm ; 
the  air  was  clear,  however,  and  a  far-extending  line  of 
craft  could  be  seen,  —  the  white  bellying  mass,  lean- 
ing threateningly  over  from  the  careening  hull,  — all 
shouldering  heavily  through  the  tossing  surge.  At 
sunset  we  were  off  the  Helder ;  at  ten  at  night,  the 


384  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1653. 

light  on  the  Texel  was  made  out,  the  beacon  of  Am- 
sterdam, low,  faint,  and  steady  as  one  peered  for  it  in 
the  harsh  head  wind.  We  passed  it,  following  north- 
ward the  ancient  path  of  the  Vikings  toward  their 
retreats  in  the  fiords. 

How  do  old  associations  crowd  upon  the  mind  in 
such  scenes !  Phoenician  ships,  on  the  lookout  for 
amber  and  tin,  —  galleys  laboring  over  the  strait  with 
the  legions  of  Caesar,  —  red-bearded  robbers,  Saxon, 
Norse,  and  Dane,  William  and  his  Normans,  —  Plan- 
tagenets  ploughing  past  to  fields  of  conquest  in 
France,  —  the  Spanish  Armada  vexed  by  Drake  and 
Howard,  a  whale  fighting  with  a  sword-fish,  —  Howe, 
and  Hood,  and  Nelson,  patrolling  here  in  towering 
743,  to  keep  off  Napoleon,  —  how  fine  the  sequence  of 
historic  figures  that  since  gray  antiquity  have  seen 
rise,  as  we  saw  them  rise,  those  beaked  and  windy 
promontories,  forever  surf-lapped !  Of  all  events, 
however,  of  which  the  English  Channel  has  been  the 
scene,  what  ones  more  worthy  to  hold  the  thoughts 
of  Americans  than  the  struggles  here  of  the  Com- 
monwealth ?  Popular  liberty  was  the  aim.  Had 
those  struggles  failed,  America  as  well  as  England 
might  have  bent  to  the  sceptre  of  an  autocrat  instead 
of  to  the  ballot  of  the  freeman. 

On  February  18,  1653,  the  English  Channel  and 
its  shores  looking,  we  may  suppose,  as  in  the  Febru- 
ary view  just  described,  a  fleet  of  seventy  sail  lay  off 
the  Bill  of  Portland,  pigmies,  for  the  most  part,  no 
doubt,  compared  with  our  modern  craft,  though  a 
few  ships  were  of  fair  size,  and  the  naval  architec- 
ture of  the  time  was  such  that  even  small  ships  were 


1653.]  BLAKE  AND    VAN  TROMP.  385 

sometimes  imposing.  The  "  Sovereign  of  the  Seas," 
at  this  time  the  crack  ship  of  the  British  navy,  was 
of  nearly  1,700  tons  burden,  elaborately  painted  and 
gilded.  For  sixty  years  she  was  the  famous  fighting- 
ship,  earning  the  sobriquet  of  "  The  Yellow  Devil." l 
That  day,  however,  the  "  Triumph,"  of  sixty-eight 
guns,  was  the  flag-ship,  and  in  the  lookout,  high  up 
the  mast,  hung  Robert  Blake  of  Bridgewater  in 
Somersetshire,  a  man  of  fifty-three,  short,  thick-set, 
his  broad  face  much  bronzed  by  campaigning  on  land 
and  sea.  He  was  of  the  same  station  in  life  as  Crom- 
well, of  Oxford  training,  with  a  pedantic  foible  for 
quoting  Latin,  curious  enough  in  an  old  sailor.  He 
had  risen  to  fame  as  a  colonel  of  horse.  When  for- 
eign foes  were  to  be  met,  he  was  sent  to  the  fleet, 
though  he  was  fifty  years  old  and  had  scarcely  ever 
been  on  shipboard.  Strangely  enough,  such  inexperi- 
ence was  regarded  as  but  a  slight  objection.  He  had 
bestridden  the  war-horse  to  good  purpose,  therefore 
he  could  ride  the  waves  well ;  the  sequence  in  those 
days  was  thought  logical,  and  seemed  often  to  be 
thoroughly  justified.  Not  only  Blake  but  many  an- 
other tough  trooper,  on  each  side,  —  Rupert,  for  in- 
stance, and  Monk  and  Dean,  —  were  not  less  dashing 
and  effective  on  the  surf  than  on  the  turf.  It  is 
chronicled  that  these  fine  old  horse-marines  some- 
times became  confused  in  battle,  roaring  out  to  the 
sailors  commands  appropriate  for  cavalry  :  but  it  did 
no  harm.  With  surprising  power  of  adaptation  the 
champions  of  that  time  appear,  with  foot  now  in  the 
stirrup,  now  on  the  shrouds,  equally  efficient  with 
either  brace. 

1  She  was  the  first  English  three-decker. 


386  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY   VANE.  [1653. 

That  February  morning  Blake  had  been  three 
years  at  sea.  He  had  been  broken  in  in  waters  that 
are  now  very  familiar  to  the  tourist.  How  many  a 
traveller  to  Europe  has  looked  with  all  his  eyes  upon 
the  Fasnett  Light,  that  beacon  upon  its  splinter  of 
lonely  rock  so  far  at  sea,  the  first  firm  bit  of  the  old 
world  which  you  encounter.  Close  back  of  the  Fas- 
nett lies  the  old  port  of  Kinsale,  where  Rupert  lay 
for  months  with  a  fleet  when  the  Stuart  cause,  lost 
on  land,  could  only  be  maintained  on  the  sea ;  and 
Blake's  first  service  was  in  a  long  blockade  of  that 
stretch  of  Irish  coast  than  which  no  shore  in  the 
world  is  more  storm-beaten  and  perilous.  Wrote  the 
servant  who  waited  upon  him,  to  whom  in  spite  of 
the  proverb  he  seems  to  have  been  a  hero :  "  He 
prayed  himself  aboard  ship,  with  such  of  his  men  as 
could  be  admitted  to  that  duty,  and  the  last  thing  he 
did  after  he  had  given  his  commands  and  word  to  his 
men  in  order  to  retire  to  his  bed,  was  to  pray  with 
his  servant.  Then  he  would  say,  '  Thomas,  bring 
me  the  pretty  cup  of  sack,'  which  he  did  with  a  crust 
of  bread ;  he  would  then  sit  down  and  give  Thomas 
liberty  to  do  the  same,  and  inquire  what  news  he 
had  of  his  Bridgewater  men  that  day,  and  talk  of 
the  people  and  affairs  of  the  place."  We  have  now 
to  see  how  this  noble  old  Puritan  earned  the  fame  of 
being  the  greatest  of  English  sailors  after  Nelson. 

In  the  beginning  of  1653,  things  were  critical  for 
the  Commonwealth.  Van  Tromp,  the  Dutch  admi- 
ral, had  in  the  fall  crushed  the  English  fleet,  and  all 
winter  had  patrolled  the  Channel  with  a  broom  at  his 
mast-head  to  signify  that  he  could  sweep  the  seas. 


1 653.]  BLAKE  AND    VAN  TROMP.  387 

Every  English  port  was  under  blockade,  or  in  dan- 
ger of  it.  The  peril  was  understood.  The  Council 
of  State,  under  the  lead  of  young  Sir  Henry  Vane, 
recalled  all  scattered  ships,  raised  the  force  at  sea  to 
thirty  thousand  men,  and  seized  hemp,  tar,  and  tim- 
ber wherever  they  could  be  found.  Night  and  day 
the  ship-yards  rattled ;  the  list  of  captains  was  se- 
verely scrutinized,  and  merit  and  incompetency  got 
each  its  just  deserts  with  the  strictest  impartiality. 
Blake  went  aboard  not  alone.  He  had  as  subordir 
nates  the  skilful  seamen  Penn,  father  of  Sir  Wm. 
Penn,  and  Lawson,  lately  raised  from  before  the 
mast,  one  of  the  most  original  of  naval  commanders. 
Dean,  a  well-known  soldier,  was  on  the  "  Triumph  " 
with  Blake ;  and  black-browed  Monk,  famous  as  Crom- 
well's right  hand  in  Scotland,  and  destined  to  a  more 
questionable  fame  in  years  still  far  ahead,  as  the  re- 
storer of  Charles  II,  went  aboard  ship  with  a  great 
force  of  land-troops  at  a  day's  notice. 

What  fast-sailing  frigate  it  was,  whether  the  "  Con- 
stant Warwick,"  the  "Antelope,"  or  the  "First," 
"  Second,"  or  "  Tenth  Whelp,"  that  first  brought  news 
of  the  approach  of  Van  Tromp,  we  cannot  say.  It 
was  made  known,  however,  that  he  was  on  his  way 
eastward  from  the  Lizard,  and  the  Admirals  off  Port- 
land Bill,  Lawson  in  the  "  Fairfax,"  Penn  in  the 
"  Speaker,"  and  Monk  in  the  "  Vanguard,"  lay  in  his 
track.  The  Dutchmen  had  seventy-six  ships  of  war, 
and  a  convoy  of  three  hundred  merchantmen,  craft 
from  all  parts  of  the  world  with  rich  cargoes,  to  be 
guarded  to  port  through  these  dangerous  Narrow 
Seas.  Van  Tromp  himself  is  a  bluff,  picturesque 


388  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1653. 

figure.  No  suspicion  of  a  horse-marine  character 
attached  itself  to  him,  for  he  had  been  a  sailor  from 
boyhood.,  and  was  the  son  of  a  sailor.  He  had  seen 
his  father  killed  in  action  by  the  English,  and  had 
been  himself  for  two  years  and  a  half  a  prisoner  to 
the  English,  serving  as  a  cabin-boy.  He  had  brought 
the  Spaniard  to  grief.  He  had  fought  the  English 
in  battles  drawn  and  battles  gained,  and  now  stood 
on  his  quarter-deck,  grizzly  with  fifty-six  years,  an 
old  salt  almost  web-footed.  As  he  led  his  vast  array, 
fighting-ships  and  convoy,  from  headland  to  head- 
land, along  the  shores,  one  wonders  whether  the 
broom  was  still  spliced  to  the  main-truck  of  the 
"  Brederode,"  his  flagship  of  ninety  guns.  Of  Van 
Tromp's  lieutenants,  perfect  seamen  and  doughty 
fighters,  but  one  can  be  mentioned  here,  De  Ruyter, 
destined  later  to  a  fame  greater  even  than  that  of  his 
Admiral,  —  that  day  a  young  commander  pushing 
on  to  the  niche  he  was  at  last  to  occupy,  as  the  best 
sword  and  the  best  sailor  of  his  heroic  sailor  race. 
Blake  had  a  few  more  ships  of  war  than  the  Dutch, 
—  at  first  sixty,  reinforced  later  by  twenty  more  from 
Portsmouth.  The  English,  moreover,  were  one  in 
spirit,  Ironsides  to  a  man,  while  the  Dutch  were  rent 
with  factions :  Van  Tromp  himself  was  of  the  Or- 
ange party,  and  lamely  seconded  on  that  account  by 
some  of  his  captains.  The  Dutchman,  moreover, 
had  to  look  out  for  the  safety  of  his  great  convoy, 
the  loss  of  whose  cargoes  would  ruin  half  Holland. 
One  feels  that  he  was  considerably  overmatched. 

Blake  himself,  from  the  lookout  of  the  "  Triumph," 
high   up  the  mast,  saw  the  Dutch  approaching  on 


I653-]  BLAKE  AND    VAN  TROMP.  389 

February  18,  the  innumerable  sails  white  in  the  bril- 
liant sunrise.  Van  Tromp  had  the  wind  and  bore 
boldly  down  upon  him  with  the  men-of-war,  while 
the  merchantmen  kept  well  in  the  rear.  Blake's  own 
line  was  not  yet  formed :  one  squadron  lay  toward 
Portsmouth,  another  westward,  toward  the  Start. 
Not  an  inch,  however,  was  yielded,  Blake  with  his 
few  ships  meeting  at  first  the  whole  force  of  the 
Dutch,  who  came  on  well  together.  The  battle  be- 
gan at  eight,  and  it  was  late  in  the  forenoon  before 
the  succoring  ships,  baffled  by  the  wind,  could  beat 
up  to  his  help.  Van  Tromp,  with  the  favoring 
breeze,  might  easily  have  carried  his  convoy  past,  but 
with  what  grace  could  he  bear  his  broom  if  he  left 
his  enemy  behind  him  ?  As  the  "  Brederode  "  came 
up,  the  "  Triumph  "  lay  first  in  her  path,  receiving 
Van  Tromp's  broadside  when  within  musket-shot. 
The  "  Brederode "  tacked  instantly,  sending  in  an- 
other broadside  close  under  the  sails,  with  a  splinter- 
ing and  carnage  that  may  be  imagined.  But  the 
"  Triumph  "  gave  gun  for  gun.  In  a  few  minutes  the 
little  English  squadron  was  enveloped  by  enemies, 
and  a  cannonade  roared  over  the  sea  that  could  be 
heard  from  Portland  to  Boulogne.  When  two  hos- 
tile ships  approached,  there  would  be  a  ramming  with 
prows,  a  grappling  of  hulls,  then  a  cry  on  both  sides 
for  boarders.  How  pike  and  cutlass  clashed  in  the 
port-holes;  how  the  sailors  climbed, clinging  to  every 
projecting  bit  of  carving,  running  along  boom  and 
yard,  leaping  at  a  venture  from  one  tossing  deck  to 
another  among  a  crowd  of  enemies,  the  hot  cannon 
meantime  at  rest,  because  in  the  me!6e,  friend  was 


390  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1653. 

no  less  likely  to  suffer  than  foe,  —  the  old  histories 
give  data  for  the  whole  terrible  picture.  De  Ruyter 
boarded  the  "  Prosperous  "  and  drove  her  crew  to  sur- 
render. He  was  driven  off:  he  captured  her  again 
and  was  driven  off  again,  —  the  shattered  decks  of 
the  ship  strewn  four  times  with  the  awful  wreck  of 
the  combat.  Here  was  a  ship  on  fire,  —  there  a  ship 
went  down  with  all  on  board,  her  wounded  captain 
flourishing  his  hanger  defiantly  as  she  disappeared. 
On  the  "Triumph,"  more  than  a  hundred  of  her  crew, 
half  her  complement,  were  slain  outright,  and  scarcely 
a  man  remained  unhurt.  Blake  himself  was  sorely 
wounded  in  the  thigh  by  a  flying  splinter,  which 
same  splinter,  says  the  conscientious  chronicler, "  tore 
a  large  hole  in  the  breeches  of  Admiral  Dean." 
Almost  every  English  ship  engaged  was  dismasted, 
and  the  sea  was  strewn  with  ruin.  Blake's  remain- 
ing ships  at  last  came  up,  and  the  scale  turned  in  his 
favor.  Amid  the  obstinate  fighting  it  was  necessary 
to  tow  the  "  Speaker  "  out  of  the  line,  utterly  helpless. 
Others  crept  through  the  Solent  to  Portsmouth,  just 
able  to  make  sail ;  and  still  others  were  so  crippled 
as  scarcely  to  float.  The  Dutch,  however,  had  lost 
eight  ships.  What  riddled  and  gore-stained  trophies  ! 
One,  when  visited,  was  found  to  have  no  living  soul 
on  board.  Such  was  the  battle  of  the  first  day. 

As  dusk  fell,  Van  Tromp  withdrew,  protecting  his 
merchantmen,  who,  while  the  men-of-war  grappled, 
had  diligently  made  their  way  onward,  and  were  now 
well  eastward  toward  home.  The  breeze  fell  at 
night,  and  the  fleets  drifted  slowly  past  the  southern 
shore  of  the  Isle  of  Wight,  the  unsleeping  crews 


1653-]  BLAKE  AND    VAN  TROMP.  391 

making  ready  for  a  new  conflict  on  the  morrow.  The 
battered  "  Triumph  "  with  her  wounded  commander 
managed  in  some  way  to  keep  with  the  rest,  destined 
to  play  a  further  part  in  what  Clarendon  calls  this 
"very  stupendous  action."  The  igth  there  seems  to 
have  been  no  engagement,  but  on  the  morning  of  the 
2oth  a  light  breeze  gave  the  fleets  the  opportunity 
anew.  Van  Tromp  changed  his  tactics.  Spreading 
his  men-of-war  in  a  wide  crescent,  like  the  protecting 
wings  of  a  mother-bird,  he  gathered  the  merchant- 
men within  the  hollow,  and  sped  up  the  Channel. 
The  heavy-laden  craft  made  slow  way.  At  noon, 
that  astonishing  "  Triumph,"  under  jury  masts  we  may 
suppose,  was  upon  the  Dutch  rear  within  gun-shot, 
and  soon  after  the  bow-chasers  of  the  remainder  of 
the  English  ships  were  in  full  play.  The  signals 
flew  from  the  "  Brederode  "  to  the  traders  :  they  were 
to  make  their  best  speed,  hugging  close  the  French 
coast  by  Calais  and  Dunkirk.  He  himself  with  the 
fighting-ships  tacked  about  with  the  finest  courage 
against  the  English,  now  concentrated  and  outnum- 
bering him.  De  Ruyter  was  in  especial  danger. 
Lawson,  in  the  "  Fairfax,"  was  especially  brave.  The 
English  began  to  have  the  upper  hand,  but  Van 
Tromp  fell  back  toward  his  convoy,  "  contesting 
every  wave."  Faction,  however,  was  rife  upon  the 
decks  of  the  Dutch,  and  when  night  came  at  last, 
clear  and  cold,  what  with  treachery  within  and  such 
foes  without,  the  redoubtable  Hollander  was  glad  of 
a  respite. 

"  Still,"  as  Penn  said  afterwards,  remembering  those 
three  days,  "  a  Dutchman  is  never  so  dangerous  as 


392  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1653. 

when  he  is  desperate."  On  Sunday  morning,  the 
2ist,  the  mother-bird  was  seen  as  before  with  her 
chickens  protected  by  her  wings,  but  now  sadly 
plucked  and  lamed.  For  a  third  time  there  was  the 
fiercest  contest,  this  day  where  the  strait  is  nar- 
rowest. How,  as  the  cannon  boomed  off  Dover,  the 
population,  even  from  the  interior,  must  have  for- 
saken the  churches  and  gathered  upon  the  cliffs, 
peering  at  the  distant  battle  through  the  wintry  air! 
Penn  at  last  broke  through  Van  Tromp's  encircling 
guard  and  captured  fifty  merchantmen.  The  bat- 
tered "  Triumph,"  with  Blake  on  the  quarter-deck  in 
spite  of  his  wound,  dashed  on  after  the  main  body, 
not  regarding  the  craft  which,  reckless  of  themselves, 
threw  themselves  in  her  way.  His  fleet  streamed 
after  him,  the  cannon  never  silent,  while  the  crippled 
masts  bent  under  the  press  of  sail.  More  than  half 
of  the  Dutch  men-of-war  became  prizes,  and  Blake 
felt  sure  of  capturing  the  entire  fleet.  But  as  pur- 
suers and  pursued  swept  out  into  the  North  Sea,  a 
night  of  storm  set  in :  when  morning  came,  Van 
Tromp  had  vanished  as  if  he  had  been  the  Flying 
Dutchman  himself.  In  their  flat-bottomed  craft 
made  for  shallow  seas,  knowing  now  every  inlet  and 
current  of  the  home  waters,  the  Dutch  had  fled  over 
and  through  the  dangerous  bars,  close  in  shore,  where 
the  English  dared  not  follow.  The  clutch  of  Blake 
had  been  eluded  after  all.  The  greater  part  of  the 
convoy  flocked  into  the  Texel  toward  Amsterdam, 
bark  and  cargo  safe  ;  while  the  fighting  craft,  dimin- 
ished but  defiant,  backed  now  by  dangerous  shore 
batteries,  offered  to  the  foe  their  still  unconquered 
broadsides. 


1653.]  BLAKE  AND    VAN  TROMP.  393 

Never  was  battle  closer  or  more  tenacious.  Never 
have  English  sailors  been  so  fairly  matched,  except 
perhaps  in  those  frigate  duels,  such  small  affairs  in 
comparison  with  this  mighty  encounter,  when  Yankee 
and  Briton  gave  blow  for  blow.  Remember  the 
cause  those  formidable  Puritan  sailors  had  at  heart. 
Blake  was  a  thorough  Republican  ;  so  that  day  were 
all  his  captains,  however  some  of  them  afterwards 
may  have  used  their  swords  in  behalf  of  arbitrary 
power,  The  cause  that  day  was<  that  of  the  freedom 
of  the  People,  as  much  as  upon  any  field  of  our  Rev- 
olution or  Civil  War.  Truly,  as  an  American  sails 
through  the  Channel  from  the  Lizard  until  at  last 
the  North  Foreland  sinks  out  of  sight,  there  is  no 
association  of  those  memorable  waters  so  worthy  to 
be  recalled  as  that  great  three  days'  conflict,  which 
reverberated  over  the  long  leagues  almost  from  end 
to  end. 

Already,  it  must  be  remembered,  the  war  had 
raged  for  nine  months,  when  Blake  and  Van  Tromp 
sighted  one  another  off  Portland  Bill ;  nor  did  the 
indecisive  action  which  has  just  been  described  end 
it.  Van  Tromp  was  in  the  Downs  again  early  in 
June  with  one  hundred  ships,  this  time  unencum- 
bered by  a  convoy.  Blake's  wound  kept  him  inac- 
tive, but  Lawson  broke  the  Dutch  line  after  the  fash- 
ion of  Rodney  against  De  Grasse,  and  Nelson  at 
Trafalgar.  Poor  Dean,  the  hero  of  the  torn  breeches, 
that  day  lost  his  life  by  a  chain-shot,  and  Monk 
showed  himself  a  capital  commander.  The  "  Brede- 
rode  "  herself  was  boarded  and  on  the  brink  of  cap- 
ture. At  the  critical  moment  a  light  was  thrown, 


394  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1653. 

it  is  said  by  Van  Tromp  himself,  into  the  magazine. 
The  decks  roared  into  the  air  with  all  the  English 
intruders  and  a  great  part  of  the  Dutch  defenders. 
Van  Tromp,  it  was  thought,  was  of  course  lost,  but 
coming  from  somewhere,  from  the  air,  or  the  sea,  or 
some  fragment  of  the  flagship  which  the  explosion 
spared,  invulnerable  as  a  phantom,  he  was  seen  after 
the  briefest  space  on  the  deck  of  a  fresh,  fast-sailing 
frigate,  careering  along  his  shattered  and  yielding 
line  to  rally  them  to  a  new  encounter.  The  day, 
however,  clearly  went  against  him ;  nor  was  fortune 
kinder  in  July.  In  a  conflict  fiercer  than  ever,  a 
musket-ball  stretched  Van  Tromp  dead  upon  his 
deck,  and  the  cause  of  Holland  was  lost.  That  day 
alone  five  thousand  men  were  slain,  and  in  the  whole 
war  the  Dutch  admitted  a  loss  of  one  thousand  one 
hundred  vessels. 

Though  Vane  was  soon  to  be  laid  aside,  we  may 
trace  briefly  the  subsequent  course  of  the  superb 
Navy  which  he  did  so  much  to  call  into  being.  After 
the  contest  with  the  magnificent  Dutch,  it  was  found 
the  merest  child's  play  to  encounter  any  other  naval 
power.  Denmark  was  awed  into  respect.  In  the 
Mediterranean,  where  the  might  of  England  had 
never  been  felt,  Blake's  guns  woke  the  lands  far  and 
near  to  a  sense  of  the  island  power.  The  persecuted 
Vaudois  peasants,  "  The  slaughtered  saints,  whose 
bones  lay  scattered  on  the  Alpine  mountains  cold," 
in  whose  behalf  Milton  invoked  the  vengeance 
of  the  Lord  in  verse  inspired  with  noble  wrath, 
found  in  Blake  the  instrument  of  that  vengeance. 


1653.]  BLAKE  AND    VAN  TROMP. 

From  Piedmont  in  the  north  to  Sicily  in  the  south, 
Duke,  Pope,  and  Viceroy  became  submissive  before 
him.  He  humbled  the  Barbary  pirates,  a  hundred 
and  fifty  years  before  Preble  and  Decatur.  To 
abase  France  was  then  no  great  task,  for  France  was 
weakened  at  home  by  the  war  of  the  Fronde.  Blake's 
greatest  feat,  after  the  conquest  of  the  Dutch,  was 
his  discipline  of  Spain,  then  far  along  in  her  deca- 
dence but  still  formidable. 

Incongruous  as  were  the  Puritan  and  the  Span- 
iard, relations  on  the  surface  friendly  long  subsisted 
between  them.  On  the  high  seas,  however,  their 
ships  were  often  fighting.  When  at  last  the  demand 
was  made  that  trade  to  the  West  Indies  should  be 
free  to  English  ships,  and  that  the  Inquisition  should 
let  alone  Bible-reading  merchants  and  sailors  in 
Spanish  harbors,  the  Spanish  minister  declared  that 
these  were  his  master's  two  eyes,  which  the  English 
proposed  to  put  out  at  once.  War  therefore  came. 

Ever  since  the  conquests  of  Cortez  and  Pizarro 
the  treasure-ships  had  come  in  periodical  fleets  fiom 
America.  The  wealth  they  brought  was  various, 
and  long  in  gathering  from  points  far  distant  from 
one  another.  The  Philippines  sent  rich  burdens 
across  the  Pacific  to  Acapulco,  whence  they  went  to 
Panama,  being  here  met  by  the  products  of  Peru 
brought  up  from  the  south.  To  oriental  spices  and 
Peruvian  silver,  Panama  added  pearls ;  and  the  whole, 
packed  upon  long  trains  of  mules,  crossed  the  isth- 
mus to  be  loaded  into  great  galleons.  These  were 
manned,  for  the  most  part,  by  Basques,  the  best  sail- 
ors of  Spain,  and  by  picked  bodies  of  soldiers.  At 


396  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1656. 

Havana  and  St.  Domingo  the  heavy  cargoes  were 
still  further  increased  by  the  yield  of  the  West 
Indies.  The  silver,  in  great  ingots  like  sugar-loaves, 
and  the  gold,  were  piled  beneath  the  captain's  cabin, 
while  in  the  holds  and  about  the  decks  were  heaped 
the  bales  of  less  costly  produce.  In  those  uncertain 
times  every  precaution  was  taken.  Though  the  gal- 
leons sometimes  carried  sixty  cannon,  they  dared  not 
venture  alone  over  the  pirate-haunted  seas,  but  made 
the  homeward  voyage  in  great  fleets.  How  imagi- 
nation, and  also  cupidity,  then  were  kindled  by  the 
thought !  The  riches  of  the  new  world,  dug  from 
mines,  plundered  from  pagan  temples,  wrung  from 
tawny,  feather-decorated  native  princes,  at  who  shall 
tell  what  cost  of  blood  and  sweat  and  death,  moving 
in  those  great  argosies  across  the  waters  to  maintain 
the  decaying  power  of  Spain  ! 

How  Blake  and  his  captains  met  the  plate-ships 
in  sight  of  Cadiz,  the  long  dangerous  voyage  as  the 
Spaniards  thought  ended,  when  they  were  saluting 
with  their  cannon  the  home  forts  at  the  mouth  of  the 
harbor,  the  terrible  Englishmen  winning  a  booty  of 
several  millions,  cannot  be  told  here :  nor  his  won- 
derful battle  in  the  harbor  of  Santa  Cruz  in  the 
Canaries,  beneath  the  peak  of  Teneriffe.  Clarendon 
wrote  of  the  latter :  "  The  whole  action  was  so  mi- 
raculous, that  all  men  who  knew  the  place  wondered 
that  any  sober  men,  with  what  courage  soever  en- 
dowed, would  ever  have  undertaken  it.  ...  The 
Spaniards  comforted  themselves  with  the  belief  that 
they  were  devils  and  not  men,  who  had  destroyed 
them  in  such  a  manner." 


1656.]  BLAKE  AND    VAN  TROMP.  397 

But  Blake's  time  had  come.  He  was  fifty-six 
years  old,  decrepit  through  wounds,  worn  out  with 
weary  tossing,  winter  and  summer,  upon  desolate 
seas.  He  yearned  for  his  beloved  Somersetshire, 
and  with  the  early  summer  of  1656,  his  battered 
flagship,  the  "  George,"  crossing  the  Bay  of  Biscay, 
made  at  length  the  Lizard,  at  the  opening  of  the 
Channel.  Home  was  at  hand,  but  the  Admiral  lay 
dying.  The  ship  spread  all  her  canvas,  that  at 
least  he  might  die  ashore.  Her  progress,  however, 
was  slow,  crippled  as  she  was  through  much  service, 
like  her  commander;  and  off  the  Start,  two  hours 
before  they  could  cast  anchor  in  Plymouth  roads, 
his  spirit  fled.  Heroic  Ironside  that  he  was,  he 
prayed  as  he  fought,  whether  in  the  saddle  or  on  the 
deck,  and  the  rugged  mariners  who  obeyed  him 
lifted  up  their  voices  in  company.  Nor  was  he  with- 
out the  finer  and  gentler  traits.  He  loved  his  old 
neighbors  and  his  home,  and  like  Hampden,  Sidney, 
and  Vane,  while  combatant  in  the  fiercest  conflicts, 
had  the  graces  of  a  scholar  and  a  gentleman.  He 
believed  in  government  of  the  People,  and  wore  him- 
self out  in  its  vindication.  His  last  battles,  indeed, 
were  under  arbitrary  power,  the  Protectorate  of 
Oliver ;  but  he  probably  felt,  as  it  may  be  believed 
Oliver  himself  felt,  that  the  arbitrary  power  was  but 
temporary,  the  stern  time  making  necessary  the  one 
strong  hand  for  the  moment,  but  only  for  the  mo- 
ment. May  we  not  say  that  this  champion  in  his 
ideas  was  an  American ! 

The  bold  headland  of  the  Start  fronts  the  sea  as 
of  old,  the  pleasant  fields  of  Devonshire  behind,  the 


398  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1656. 

surf  at  its  base,  the  battle-hallowed  waves  of  the 
Channel  tossing  before.  How  it  is  dignified,  as  the 
thought  rises  in  the  mind  of  him  who  looks  upon  it, 
that  it  saw  the  death  of  Blake  ! l 

1  Among  the  authorities  for  the  and  Hannay ;  and  Le  Clerc :  His- 

Dutch  war  and  the  life  of  Blake  toire  des  Provinces  Unies  des  Pays 

have  been  the  biographies  by  Dr.  Bas. 
Samuel  Johnson,  Hepworth  Dixon, 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE    DISSOLUTION     OF    THE     RUMP. 

IN  the  midst  of  his  power,  while  "  young  "  was  still 
appropriately  prefixed  to  his  name  (he  was  but  forty- 
one),  in  the  midst  of  services  as  splendid  as  a  states- 
man has  ever  rendered  to  his  country  (one  potent 
voice,  however,  that  of  Carlyle,1  has  been  raised  to 
belittle  his  work),  Vane  was  suddenly  laid  on  the 
shelf,  and  during  five  of  his  best  years  had  nothing 
to  do  with  the  government.  The  circumstances  are 
very  memorable  and  deserve  to  be  carefully  studied. 

No  one  felt  satisfied  to  have  the  Rump  continue. 
It  was  a  temporary  arrangement,  to  be  suffered  no 
longer  than  was  absolutely  necessary ;  and  the  chiefs 
of  the  Honest  Party,  who  from  the  death  of  Charles 
to  the  battle  of  Worcester  and  after  had  been  a  unit, 
had,  as  we  have  seen,  never  lost  sight  of  the  matter 
of  having  the  Rump  dissolved  as  soon  as  possible. 
In  spite  of  the  successes  of  the  Commonwealth,  the 
Rump  remained  a  mere  rag  of  an  assembly,  a  large 
proportion  of  those  recognized  as  members  very 
seldom  showing  their  faces.  A  House  of  seventy 
was  a  rarity,  and  fifty  was  a  good  number.  It  made 
little  headway  moreover  in  the  settlement  of  impor- 

1  Cromwell,  ii.  6. 


400  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1653. 

tant  matters ;  how  could  it  when  the  hour  so  pressed  ? 
but  the  Army,  which  not  unnaturally  felt  that  it  had 
earned  the  right  to  criticise,  was  not  slow  in  finding 
fault. 

August  13,  1652,  a  petition  from  important  Army 
men  was  handed  in,  urging  Parliament  to  alacrity 
on  many  matters.  Parliament  was  not  pleased  at 
the  interference;  and  authorities  of  the  time,1  as 
well  as  modern  writers,  assert  that  Vane  and  the 
Parliament  men  were  glad  to  behold  the  rise  of 
Blake,  and  fostered  the  Navy  while  they  diminished 
the  Army.  It  would  be  salutary,  they  thought,  to 
have  a  great  reputation  to  balance  somewhat  the 
enormous  prestige  of  Cromwell :  the  soldiers  too,  from 
colonel  to  corporal,  were  disposed  to  assume  much : 
the  civil  power  ought  to  be  supreme:  how  to  deal 
with  this  uncomfortable  self-confidence  ? 

It  is  possible  that  Vane  and  his  friends  were  think- 
ing of  something  else  besides  making  a  good  front 
against  Van  Tromp,  in  many  of  their  measures. 
Through  turning  soldiers  into  sailors  by  the  whole- 
sale, as  was  done  when  entire  regiments  were  sent 
on  shipboard,  the  Army  was  weakened.  When 
Vane  was  preparing  the  fleet  of  eighty  ships  with 
which  Blake  was  to  fight  the  great  three  days'  battle 
of  the  Channel,  he  initiated  measures  for  raising 
,£120,000  a  month  for  war  expenses,  and  at  the  same 
time  proposed  the  selling  of  Hampton  Court,  Wind- 
sor Park,  Hyde  Park,  the  Royal  Park  at  Greenwich, 
Enfield  Castle,  and  Somerset  House.  As  regards 
the  latter  scheme,  he  may  have  had  a  deeper  design 

1  Ludlow,  ii.  450.     Clarendon,  vi.  2691. 


I653-]  THE  DISSOLUTION  OF  THE  RUMP.  40! 

than  to  raise  money.  If  the  parks  and  seats  were 
disposed  of,  appurtenances  as  they  were  of  sovereign 
state,  the  temptation  to  any  person  high  in  authority 
to  seize  upon  supreme  power  might  be  diminished. 

However  the  Rump  leaders  felt,  they  pushed  with 
alacrity,  whenever  time  could  be  found,  the  work 
they  had  never  laid  down,  that  of  arranging  for  the 
Parliament  that  was  to  succeed  them.  Ireton's 
"  Agreement  of  the  People  "  still  remained  the  gen- 
eral plan,  but  the  same  difficulty  presented  itself  as 
before.  An  election  so  free  as  was  contemplated 
by  that  document  would  be  likely  to  return  a  Parlia- 
ment in  which  their  enemies  would  preponderate,  and 
in  that  case  all  the  political  and  religious  freedom 
which  had  cost  such  a  bitter  struggle,  would  be  cer- 
tain to  be  sacrificed.  Cromwell  was  much  oppressed 
by  the  difficulties  of  the  situation.  In  his  idea  the 
Rump  must  come  to  an  end,  and  yet  the  election  of 
the  new  Parliament  must  be  postponed.  The  plan 
he  finally  hit  upon  as  the  most  feasible,  was  that  of 
a  new  Council,  of  "  well-affected "  men,  to  consist 
of  forty,  like  the  present  Council  of  State, tut  not  ne- 
cessarily to  consist  of  the  same  men,  and  not  to  de- 
rive their  power  from  the  Rump.  Such  a  provision 
was  quite  unconstitutional,  but  was  declared  by  Crom- 
well to  be  "  no  new.  thing  when  the  land  was  under 
the  like  hurly-burlies."  This  arbitrary  Council,  in  the 
Lord  General's  thought,  should  take  care  temporarily 
of  the  public  safety,  and  engineer  as  speedily  and  pru- 
dently as  possible  the  much  desired  new  Parliament. 
Whence  was  the  power  of  the  projected  new  Council 
to  be  derived?  From  the  Army;  and  since  the 


402  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1653. 

Army  had  no  thought  or  feeling  but  according  to  its 
great  chief,  from  Cromwell. 

The  plan  which  the  leaders  of  the  Rump  came  to 
favor  was  this :  to  have  the  new  Parliament  elected 
as  Ireton  had  provided,  but  with  two  very  important 
amendments,  designed  to  make  secure  the  suprem- 
acy of  the  Honest  Party,  ist.  All  the  Rump  mem- 
bers were  to  continue  in  place  without  reelection. 
2d.  A  committee  of  the  Rump  was  to  superintend 
the  elections  and  judge  of  their  validity  or  fitness. 

Antagonism  now  began  to  develop  itself  strongly 
between  the  two  knots  of  men,  at  the  head  of  which, 
respectively,  were  Cromwell  and  Vane.  To  Vane, 
with  whom  stood  Haselrig,  Scott,  Marten,  Sidney, 
Whitlocke,  the  plan  of  Cromwell  seemed  a  perilous 
departure  from  constitutional  ways,  to  be  opposed  as 
he  had  opposed  the  purge  of  Pride.  To  Cromwell, 
with  whom  stood  St.  John  and  the  soldiers  Lambert, 
Harrison,  Fleetwood,  Desborough,  etc.,  the  plan  of 
Vane  seemed  simply  one  for  the  perpetuation  and 
recruitment  of  the  Rump,  which  must  be  got  out  of 
the  way  at  any  cost.  November  3,  1654,  had  in  the 
fall  after  Worcester  been  fixed  as  the  date  beyond 
which  the  Rump  should  not  continue.  Vane  and 
his  friends  became  eager  for  dissolution,  and  wished 
afterwards  to  fix  the  date  for  November  3,  1653. 
The  spring  of  1653  ^a<^  now  come  with  its  successes. 
What  better  time  for  a  dissolution  than  now,  the 
Rump  began  to  think,  when  the  magnificent  victory 
in  the  Channel,  due  to  Blake  and  Vane,  had  given 
the  Rump  a  splendid  popularity !  In  the  elections 
they  might  count  that  the  country  would  send  many 


1653-]          THE  DISSOLUTION  OF  THE  RUMP.  403 

of  their  friends  to  the  new  Parliament.  Cromwell 
probably  was  not  pleased  with  such  a  prospect.  For 
one  in  his  position  it  would  be  only  human  to  look 
askance  upon  the  rise  of  such  a  rival  as  Blake. 
Would  it  not  be  well  to  take  some  decided  step,  be- 
fore Blake's  skill  and  courage  had  put  him  up  an- 
other round  ?  "  Ought  he  to  permit  an  appeal  to 
the  country  when  Blake's  victories,  and  the  necessity 
of  more  of  them  to  end  the  war,  would  be  used  as 
the  electioneering  cries  of  Vane  and  the  Rump  ? " l 

The  split  between  the  groups  widened  rapidly, 
Vane  and  his  friends  pushing  with  all  vigor,  side  by 
side  with  care  for  the  tremendous  war,  the  bill  for  the 
dissolution  and  the  election  of  the  new  Parliament 
The  records  of  the  committee  meetings  have  not 
been  preserved,  and  the  bill  itself,  as  we  shall  pres- 
ently see,  disappeared  in  a  memorable  way,  but  it  is 
quite  possible  to  know  what  were  its  essential  pro- 
visions. They  had  hardly  varied,  except  in  the  way 
of  defmiteness,  from  Ireton's  plan.  Fifty  years  ago 
Forster  investigated  the  matter  most  carefully,2  elu- 
cidating all  details  necessary  for  a  full  understanding 
of  the  bill.  He  discovered  that  it  anticipated  re- 
markably, sometimes  even  in  minute  particulars,  the 
great  Reform  measures  of  the  era  of  1832.  The 
Parliament  was  to  consist  of  four  hundred  members. 
In  the  case  of  the  boroughs  which  had  so  lost  their 
population  as  to  become  insignificant,  the  "  rotten 
boroughs,"  the  representative  was  taken  away,  while 
to  larger  towns  that  had  risen  to  importance  repre- 
sentation was  given.  Amongst  the  shires  an  equi- 

1  Masson,  iv.  409.  2  Life  of  Vane,  316. 


404  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1653. 

table  distribution  of  representatives  was  made,  those 
less  important  having  their  number  reduced,  while 
the  more  important  received  their  due  weight.  As 
regards  qualification,  the  franchise  in  towns  was  to 
belong  to  all  housekeepers  of  a  certain  low  rental ; 
and  in  the  shires,  Vane  pressed  earnestly  the  neces- 
sity of  extending  the  franchise,  urging  the  danger  of 
vesting  it  "  in  those  tenants  whose  tenure  of  estate 
subjected  them  to  perpetual  control."  It  is  distinctly 
to  be  noticed  that  the  scheme  of  Vane  was  not  revo- 
lutionary. He  wanted  nothing  not  "  consonant  to 
the  principles  which  have  given  rise  to  the  law  and 
monarchy  itself  in  England."  In  those  days  the 
origin  of  English  institutions  was  scarcely  less  well 
understood  than  in  our  own  time.1  He  recognized 
in  Parliament  the  supreme  authority,  descended  from 
the  ancient  assemblies  which  in  their  time  had  had 
the  supreme  authority.  He  wished  to  connect  the 
franchise  with  a  fixed  though  a  low  amount  of  prop- 
erty, feeling  apparently  the  expediency  of  requiring 
that  the  voters  should  have  "  some  stake  in  the  coun- 
try," in  order  to  quicken  their  patriotism.  While  the 
reform  in  Parliament  which  he  favored  tended  to  an 
increased  preponderance  of  the  middle  class,  he  yet 
wanted  no  sweeping  change.  As  has  been  seen,  his 

1  See  a  remarkable  book  on  the  eral  interpretations  of  the  consti- 

"  Laws  and  Government  of  Eng-  tution  from  the  same  period  may 

land,   collected  from  some  manu-  be  found  in  Somers  Tracts,  vol.  iv. 

script  notes  of  John  Selden  by  Na-  "  The  form  of  Government  of  the 

thaniel Bacon"  in  which  substan-  Kingdom  of  England,"   and  "  A 

tially  the    same    account  of   the  short   Treatise    on    the  Laws  of 

British  Constitution  is   given   as  England,"  by  W.  Mantell.     Tho- 

by  Gneist,  Stubbs,  Freeman,  and  masson,  xlii. 
other  modern  writers.     Other  lib- 


I6S3-]         THE  DISSOLUTION  OF  THE  RUMP.  405 

Republicanism,  like  that  of  Ireton  and  Cromwell, 
had  been  a  very  gradual  growth.  He  was  at  first 
not  at  all  an  enemy  to  the  King.  Only  because  the 
King  was  in  his  arbitrary  notions  so  utterly  incor- 
rigible was  he  gradually  led  into  the  thought  that  it 
would  be  better  to  do  away  with  a  King,  at  any  rate, 
in  the  old  sense  of  the  word.  Let  it  be  always  re- 
membered that  in  the  bill  of  1653  for  the  dissolution 
of  the  old  and  the  election  of  the  new  Parliament, 
the  principle  of  the  sovereignty  of  the  People  was 
not  to  be  fully  carried  out :  the  Rump  was  to  re- 
main as  a  part  of  the  new  assembly,  and  the  Rump 
was  to  manage  the  new  elections  —  this  that  there 
might  be  security  that  the  Commonwealth  would  not 
be  swamped  by  the  Royalists  and  Anti-tolerationists 
who  formed  a  majority  of  the  nation.1 

Thus,  then,  the  two  factions  stood  in  April.  Both 
were  eager  for  dissolution,  —  the  group  of  which 
Vane  was  the  centre  desiring  dissolution  with  the 
bill,  —  the  group  of  which  Cromwell  was  the  centre 
desiring  it  without  the  bill.  April  13,  the  bill  was 
last  before  the  House,  and  it  was  to  come  on  again 
April  20.  On  the  igth  a  meeting  took  place  at 
Whitehall  between  Cromwell  and  his  friends  and  the 
chiefs  of  the  Rump,  in  which  a  last  attempt  was 
made  to  come  to  an  agreement.  So  far  as  can  be 
ascertained  from  the  speech  of  Cromwell  a  few  days 
after,2  and  from  Whitlocke's  report,3  the  Rump  men 

1  Bisset,   History  of  Common-  further  his  own  aims.      For  what 

•wealth,  ii.  410,  462,  finds  no  proof  may  be    said  pro  and    con,  see 

that  the  bill  provided  for  the  per-  Masson,  iv.  409. 

petuation  of  the  Rump,  and  thinks  2  Carlyle,  ii.  43. 

that  Cromwell  spread  this  idea  to  8  Whitlocke,  under  date  Apr.  20. 


406  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1653. 

hinted  that  if  the  bill,  the  thing  which  separated 
them,  were  dropped,  the  only  alternative  was  the 
continuance  of  the  power  of  the  Rump ;  upon  which 
Cromwell  urged  his  scheme  for  the  select  Council 
of  some  forty  "  well-affected  "  men,  which  he  insisted 
on  as  at  least  "  five  times  better  than  theirs."  The 
wrangle  went  on  until  late  at  night,  the  most  that 
the  Rump  men  would  promise  being  that  they  would 
consider  and  consult  with  friends,  two  or  three  un- 
dertaking at  the  last  to  "endeavor  to  suspend  farther 
proceedings  about  their  bill,"  until  there  had  been 
further  discussion.  "  They  told  us,  they  would  take 
time  for  the  consideration  of  these  things  till  to- 
morrow; they  would  sleep  upon  them  and  consult 
some  friends  :  '  some  friends,'  though,  as  I  said,  there 
were  about  twenty-three  of  them  here,  and  not  above 
fifty-three  in  the  House.  And  at  parting  one  of  the 
chief  [Sir  Harry  Vane]  and  two  or  three  more, 
did  tell  us,  that  they  would  endeavor  to  suspend  fur- 
ther proceedings,  until  they  had  another  conference 
with  us."1  Next  morning,  while  a  few  of  the  Rump 
men  and  officers,  with  Cromwell,  were  resuming  the 
discussion,  word  was  brought  that  the  bill  was  on  in 
the  House,  and  that  it  was  being  hurried  through  its 
last  stages.  All  unnecessary  formalities  were  being 
neglected  with  regard  to  it,  and  it  was  on  the  point 
of  becoming  law.  Cromwell,  feeling  that  the  agree- 
ment of  the  night  before  had  been  broken,  hurried 
to  St.  Stephen's,  and  the  scene  took  place,  one  of  the 
most  dramatic,  picturesque,  and  critical,  in  his  career 
and  also  in  that  of  Vane. 

1  Carlyle,  ii.  44.     That  Vane  was    ised  to  suspend  action  is  a  suppo- 
the  "  one  of  the  chief  "  who  prom-    sition  of  Carlyle's  quite  gratuitous. 


1653.]  THE  DISSOLUTION  OF  THE  RUMP.  407 

Let  us  call  up  a  picture  of  the  beautiful  chapel  of 
St.  Stephen's  that  2Oth  of  April,  the  spring  morning 
sun  coming  in  through  the  great  eastern  window, 
shining  upon  the  canopy  over  Speaker  Lenthall's 
chair,  then  striking  the  long  rows  of  benches.  These, 
made  to  accommodate  a  company  of  five  hundred, 
are  for  the  most  part  quite  empty,  well  covered  with 
dust  we  may  suppose,  while  a  little  company,  scarcely 
a  sixth  part  of  the  great  Long  Parliament  which 
gathered  in  November  thirteen  years  before,  sit 
grouped  on  the  lower  seats,  about  the  table  with  its 
mace.  Vane  is  on  his  feet,  still  young  Sir  Harry 
(for  in  the  Rump  close  by  him  sits  his  inevitable 
father),  forty-one  years  old,  with  a  presence  full  of 
extraordinary  energy,  his  every  word  received  with  the 
deepest  respect.  What  a  share  he  has  had  in  guid- 
ing events  during  the  twelve  tremendous  years  just 
past !  and  he  still  remains  the  administrative  colossus 
upon  whom  mainly  rests  the  burden  of  the  vast  war, 
which  demands  every  man,  gun,  and  timber  which 
the  Commonwealth  can  raise.  No  one  can  fathom 
his  serpent-wisdom ;  no  one  define  like  him  the 
"  bounds  of  either  sword,"  in  the  political  perplexities, 
assigning  each  to  its  due  sphere,  the  temporal  and  the 
spiritual.  It  is  a  serious  company  —  in  steeple-hats 
and  sad-colored  doublets,  the  strong  countenances 
sobered  by  familiarity  with  peril  and  responsibility, 
and  the  discipline  of  the  severe  Puritan  faith.  These 
men  are  listening  to  him  on  whose  firm  hand  Reli- 
gion leans  as  upon  that  of  an  elder  son.  Let  us  take 
the  report  of  Ludlow.1 

1  Memoirs,  ii.  455  etc. 


408  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1653. 

"  The  Parliament  now  perceiving  to  what  kind  of 
excesses  the  madness  of  the  Army  was  like  to  carry 
them,  resolved  to  leave  as  a  legacy  to  the  people  the 
government  of  a  commonwealth  by  their  represen- 
tatives when  assembled  in  Parliament,  and  in  the  in- 
tervals thereof  by  a  Council  of  State,  chosen  by 
them,  and  to  continue  till  the  meeting  of  the  next 
succeeding  Parliament,  to  whom  they  were  to  give 
an  account  of  their  conduct  and  management.  To 
this  end  they  resolved,  without  any  further  delay,  to 
pass  the  act  for  their  own  dissolution;  of  which 
Cromwell  having  notice,  makes  haste  to  the  House, 
where  he  sat  down  and  heard  the  debate  for  some 
time.  Then  calling  to  Maj.  Gen.  Harrison,  who  was 
on  the  other  side  of  the  House,  to  come  to  him,  he 
told  him  that  he  judged  the  Parliament  ripe  for  a 
dissolution,  and  this  to  be  the  time  of  doing  it.  The 
Maj.  Gen.  answered,  as  he  since  told  me :  '  Sir,  the 
work  is  very  great  and  dangerous,  therefore  I  de- 
sire you  seriously  to  consider  of  it  before  you  en- 
gage in  it.'  '  You  say  well,'  replied  the  General,  and 
thereupon  sat  still  for  about  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  and 
then  the  question  for  passing  the  bill  being  to  be 
put,  he  said  again  to  Maj.  Gen.  Harrison,  *  This  is 
the  time,  I  must  do  it ; '  and  suddenly  standing  up, 
made  a  speech,  wherein  he  loaded  the  Parliament 
with  the  vilest  reproaches,  charging  them  not  to 
have  a  heart  to  do  anything  for  the  public  good,  to 
have  espoused  the  corrupt  interest  of  Presbytery  and 
the  lawyers,  who  were  the  supporters  of  tyranny  and 
oppression,  accusing  them  of  an  intention  to  perpet- 
uate themselves  in  power,  had  they  not  been  forced 


I653-]  THE  DISSOLUTION  OF  THE  RUMP.  409 

to  the  passing  of  this  act,  which  he  affirmed  they  de- 
signed never  to  observe,  and  thereupon  told  them, 
that  the  Lord  had  done  with  them,  and  had  chosen 
other  instruments  for  the  carrying  on  his  work 
that  were  more  worthy.  This  he  spoke  with  so 
much  passion  and  discomposure  of  mind  as  if  he  had 
been  distracted.  Sir  Peter  Wentworth  stood  up  to 
answer  him  and  said,  that  this  was  the  first  time  that 
ever  he  had  heard  such  unbecoming  language  given 
to  the  Parliament,  and  that  it  was  the  more  horrid  in 
that  it  came  from  their  servant  and  their  servant 
whom  they  had  so  highly  trusted  and  obliged ;  but 
as  he  was  going  on,  the  General  stepped  into  the 
midst  of  the  House,  where  continuing  his  distracted 
language,  he  said,  '  Come,  come,  I  will  put  an  end 
to  your  prating ; '  then  walking  up  and  down  the 
House  like  a  madman,  and  kicking  the  ground  with 
his  feet,  he  cried  out,  '  You  are  no  Parliament,  I  say 
you  are  no  Parliament;  I  will  put  an  end  to  your 
sitting ;  call  them  in,  call  them  in.'  Whereupon  the 
sergeant  attending  the  Parliament  opened  the  doors 
and  Lieut.  Col.  Worsley  with  two  files  of  musketeers 
entered  the  House ;  which  Sir  Henry  Vane  observ- 
ing from  his  place,  said  aloud,  '  This  is  not  honest, 
yea,  it  is  against  morality  and  common  honesty.' 
Then  Cromwell  fell  a  railing  at  him,  crying  out  with 
a  loud  voice,  '  O,  Sir  Henry  Vane,  Sir  Henry  Vane, 
the  Lord  deliver  me  from  Sir  Henry  Vane.'  Then 
looking  upon  one  of  the  members,  he  said,  '  There 
sits  a  drunkard ; '  and  giving  much  reviling  language 
to  others  he  commanded  the  mace  to  be  taken  away, 
saying,  '  What  shall  we  do  with  this  bauble  ?  here, 


410  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1653. 

take  it  away ! '  Having  brought  all  into  this  dis- 
order, Maj.  Gen.  Harrison  went  to  the  Speaker  as  he 
sat  in  the  chair  and  told  him,  that  seeing  things  were 
reduced  to  this  pass,  it  would  not  be  convenient  for 
him  to  remain  there.  The  Speaker  answered  that 
he  would  not  come  down  unless  he  were  forced.  '  Sir,' 
said  Harrison,  '  I  will  lend  you  my  hand ; '  and 
thereupon,  putting  his  hand  within  his,  the  Speaker 
came  down.  Then  Cromwell  applied  himself  to  the 
members  of  the  House,  who  were  in  number  between 
eighty  and  one  hundred,  and  said  to  them :  '  Its  you 
that  have  forced  me  to  this,  for  I  have  sought  the 
Lord  night  and  day  that  he  should  rather  slay  me 
than  put  me  upon  the  doing  of  this  work.'  He  or- 
dered the  guard  to  see  the  House  cleared  of  all  the 
members,  and  then  seized  upon  the  records  that 
were  there  and  at  Mr.  Scobell's1  house.  After  which 
he  went  to  the  clerk,  and  snatching  the  Act  of  Dis- 
solution, which  was  ready  to  pass,  out  of  his  hand,  he 
put  it  under  his  cloak,  and  having  commanded  the 
doors  to  be  locked  up,  went  away  to  Whitehall." 

Ludlow,  though  in  Ireland  at  the  time,  had  most 
diligently  collected  the  facts,  and  may  be  relied  upon 
almost  as  if  he  were  an  eye-witness.  The  other  im- 
portant authorities  for  this  great  scene  are  the  Earl 
of  Leicester,2  father  of  Algernon  Sidney,  and  Whit- 
locke.  Sidney  was  present,  and  the  Earl  reports  in 
his  journal  what  he  had  heard  from  his  son.  Some 
details  may  be  here  gleaned  which  lend  interest  to 

1  The  clerk.  Sidney  papers,  edited  by  R.  W. 

3  Leicester's    Journal,    in     the    Blencowe,  pp.  139,  140,  141. 


1 653-]  THE  DISSOLUTION  OF  THE  RUMP.          411 

the  account.  Cromwell,  for  instance,  comes  "  in  plain 
black  clothes,  with  grey  worsted  stockings."  When 
he  began  to  speak,  he  at  first  commended  Parlia- 
ment, at  last  changing  his  tone  into  denunciation, 
his  anger  rising  as  he  stamped  up  and  down  the  hall 
with  his  hat  on.  In  the  two  files  of  musketeers  with 
whom  Worsley 1  entered  there  were  twenty  or  thirty 
men.  Speaker  Lenthall  had  before  this  shown  him- 
self stout-hearted  in  maintaining  the  dignity  of  his 
place,  confronting  Charles  in  1642,  when  Charles 
strode  in  upon  that  same  floor  to  arrest  the  Five 
Members,  as  he  now  faced  the  wrath  of  Cromwell. 
Algernon  Sidney  sat  next  to  Lenthall,  and  Crom- 
well said  to  Harrison,  "  Put  him  out."  Sidney  re- 
fusing to  go,  Cromwell  thundered  again,  "  Put  him 
out !  "  whereupon  Harrison  and  Worsley  put  their 
hands  on  his  shoulders  to  force  him  out.  The  ex- 
clamation to  Vane  stands  in  Leicester's  Journal 
altogether  different  from  Ludlow's  report.  "  At  the 
going  out  the  Generall  said  to  young  Sir  Henry 
Vane,  calling  him  by  his  name,  that  he  might  have 
prevented  this  extraordinary  course,  but  he  was  a 
Juggler,  and  had  not  so  much  as  common  honesty." 

These  words  do  not  at  all  necessarily  imply  that 
at  this  time  Cromwell  and  Vane  were  seriously 
estranged.  As  to  the  charge  of  being  "  a  juggler," 

1  Worsley  became  Major-Gen-  skeleton  of  Worsley,  —  that  of  a 
eral,  was  a  great  favorite  with  tall  man,  with  well -formed  head 
Cromwell,  and  was  even  thought  and  teeth  fresh  and  bright,  the 
of  as  his  successor  in  the  Protec-  larger  ligatures  of  the  body  still 
torate.  He  died,  however,  at  thirty-  traceable.  A  curious  reappear- 
five,  in  1656,  and  was  interred  in  ance  of  one  of  the  heroes  of  the 
Henry  Vllth's  Chapel.  In  1868  Dissolution  of  the  Rump  !  Stan- 
Dean  Stanley,  searching  for  the  ley's  Memorials  of  Westminster 
coffin  of  James  I,  unearthed  the  Abbey>  p.  674  etc. 


412  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1653. 

Oliver  may  have  had  in  his  thought  some  of  young 
Sir  Harry's  theological  disquisitions,  by  which  Oliver, 
like  men  in  general,  found  himself  completely  dazed. 
As  to  Vane's  want  of  "  common  honesty,"  Cromwell 
might  well  have  had  in  mind  the  conference  of  the 
previous  evening,  and  what  he  then  understood  to  be 
the  agreement,  that  the  pressing  of  the  Act  of  Dis- 
solution should  be  postponed  until  there  had  been 
further  discussion,  —  an  agreement  which  no  doubt, 
judging  by  events,  some  other  Rump  man  than  Vane 
assented  to,  and  by  which  Vane,  therefore,  did  not  feel 
bound.  After  this  time,  efforts  were  made,  as  will  be 
seen,  to  induce  Sir  Harry  to  take  part  in  the  new 
order, —  just  as  in  1649,  when  he  had  withdrawn 
displeased  by  Pride's  Purge  and  the  execution  of 
the  King.  In  this  second  exigency  he  declines  to 
return  to  public  life,  but  implies  in  his  language  that 
he  and  Cromwell  are  still  friends.  Cromwell's  excla- 
mation at  the  Dissolution  of  the  Rump  was,  no  doubt, 
an  outburst  of  momentary  passion.  Probably  no 
grave  estrangement  between  the  friends  came  about 
until  the  time  of  the  "  Healing  Question  "  and  Vane's 
imprisonment,  in  1656. 

No  touches  can  be  added  to  those  of  the  old  writ- 
ers to  make  the  scene  more  vivid.  Cromwell  strode 
off  to  Whitehall,  with  the  Act  of  Dissolution  under 
his  cloak.  Soon  after  a  paper  was  found  posted  on 
the  door  of  the  Parliament  House  :  "  This  House  to 
be  Let,  now  Unfurnished."  Later  in  the  day  the 
Council  of  State  was  also  summarily  dismissed,  Brad- 
shaw  signalizing  himself  by  spirited  behavior.  Hence- 
forth for  five  years  the  will  of  Cromwell  was  abso- 
lute in  England. 


1653-]          THE  DISSOLUTION  OF  THE  RUMP.  413 

Both  old  and  new  writers,  Royalist  and  Repub- 
lican,1 have  seen  nothing  but  selfish  ambition  in  this 
seizure  by  Cromwell,  through  military  force,  of  auto- 
cratic power.  Since  Carlyle  gave  to  the  world  the 
letters  and  speeches  of  the  wonderful  man,  the  candid 
have  judged  differently.  He  had  abundant  human 
limitations  without  doubt;  but  one  cannot  read  those 
strange  outpourings,  so  unstudied,  so  incoherent, 
so  artless,  full  of  such  devotional  fervors,  such  up- 
wellings  of  fine  aspiration,  of  pathos  so  deep  that 
the  page  seems  almost  to  bear  the  stain  of  tears, 
without  feeling  that  he  was  nobly  patriotic,  and  that 
with  utter  sacrifice  of  himself  he  took  upon  his  great 
shoulders  his  bleeding  country  with  no  desire  but  to 
save  her.  In  forsaking  the  Republicanism  for  which 
he  had  fought  so  long  and  gloriously,  and  usurp- 
ing the  sceptre,  he  thought  he  was  taking  the  only 
means  possible  to  save  the  country  from  terrible  dis- 
aster. The  Rump  seemed  to  him  inadequate:  the 
land  must  not  be  left  in  the  hands  of  those  who  had 
never  fought  for  it  :  he  had  perhaps  a  foreboding 
that  his  own  influence  would  decay.  What  he  had 
done  for  his  country  entitled  him  to  be  looked  upon 
as  its  father  almost.  He  loved  it  like  a  father,  —  in 
proud  self-confidence  felt  that  he  could  judge  as  no 
other  could  for  its  welfare.  Ought  he  not  to  strike 
before  his  prestige  had  sunk?  His  reasoning  was 
like  that.  The  moment  of  decision  came,  and  he 
roughly  stamped  out  what  he  thought  had  lasted  too 
long.  He  meant  that  his  dictatorship  should  be 

1  Clarendon,  Ludlow,  Echard,  Hume,  Whitlocke,  Godwin,  Forster, 
etc. 


414  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1653. 

only  temporary,  intending  to  give  power  to  the  na- 
tion as  soon  as  the  nation  could  bear  it.  Though 
the  '  Barebones '  or  Little  Parliament  was  appointed 
by  himself,  he  caused  a  Parliament  to  be  elected,  fol- 
lowing narrowly  the  provisions  of  the  Act  which  he 
had  snatched  from  the  clerk  on  that  memorable  2oth 
of  April.  This  Parliament  acted,  in  his  view,  un- 
wisely, and  he  sent  it  home  unceremoniously.  Again 
at  a  later  stage  he  caused  still  another  Parliament  to 
be  elected  in  a  similar  way :  this,  too,  he  presently 
dismissed  as  foolish  and  inadequate.  The  day  never 
came  when  Cromwell  felt  he  could  cease  to  be  a 
despot.  With  almost  miraculous  ability  he  sustained 
himself,  ability  no  more  conspicuous  in  dealing  with 
foreign  and  open  enemies  than  against  the  constant 
plots  of  secret  foes.  His  old  mother  at  Whitehall 
shivered  whenever  she  heard  the  report  of  a  gun  or 
an  unusual  crash,  through  fear  that  some  assassin 
had  at  length  found  the  heart  of  her  son,  —  and  it 
was  no  foolish  fear.  Dividing  England  up  into  mili- 
tary districts,  over  each  one  of  which  he  set  a  Major 
General,  a  grim  Ironside  whose  sword  was  absolute, 
he  ruled  with  an  unconstitutional  tyranny  compared 
with  which  that  of  the  Stuarts  was  mere  child's  play. 
When  at  last  his  mighty  hand  relaxed,  nothing  was 
possible  but  the  Restoration.  His  rule  brought  to 
England  glory  and  prosperity,  but  as  helping  toward 
freedom  no  failure  was  ever  more  complete. 

Would  the  plan  of  Vane  —  that  for  the  perpetu- 
ation and  recruitment  of  the  great  Long  Parliament 
until  the  nation  could  safely  be  trusted  with  the  man- 
agement of  itself  —  have  served  any  better  purpose  ? 


I6S3-]  THE  DISSOLUTION  OF  THE  RUMP.  415 

Probably  not:  nor  can  it  be  believed  that  success 
would  have  followed  a  third  possible  course,  the  sur- 
rendering of  power  into  the  hands  of  a  free  Parlia- 
ment, elected  on  Ireton's  plan  immediately  after  the 
battle  of  Worcester.  The  world  was  in  truth  not 
ready1  for  the  ideas  of  the  Honest  Party.  Prejudices 
were  too  inveterate  :  prescriptions  and  traditions 
would  not  loose  their  hold.  A  noble  Toleration,  a 
doing  away  with  Monarch  and  privileged  class  that  a 
Commonwealth  might  come  to  pass  in  which  each 
reputable  citizen  should  have  an  equal  voice  —  these 
were  ideas  for  which  the  world  could  be  only  slowly 
prepared.  Only  after  a  hundred  years  and  under 
American  conditions  could  such  ideas  become  prac- 
tical. 

The  Rump  went  down  to  the  great  grief  of  many, 
though  Cromwell  said,  "  We  did  not  hear  a  dog  bark 
at  their  going."  It  was  not  safe  to  speak  loud.  The 
fleet,  which  in  particular  it  had  created  and  fostered, 
hastened  with  a  melancholy  eagerness  to  thank 
Cromwell  for  delivering  them  from  "  the  intolerable 
oppression  and  tyranny  of  Parliament."2  To  this 
manifesto  the  names  of  Dean,  Monk,  and  many  cap- 
tains were  affixed.  Blake  is  believed  to  have  seen 
the  downfall  regretfully,  though  he  told  his  sailors  it 
was  their  business  to  face  the  foreign  foe,  and  not 
concern  themselves  with  changes  at  home.  Even 
Milton  was  among  the  calumniators  of  the  Parlia- 

1  Gneist :    Geschichte  und  heutige  Gestalt  der  Aemter  in  England, 
22.6  etc. 

2  Godwin,  iii.  478. 


41 6  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1653. 

ment.  As  the  world  now  looks  back  to  those  four 
years,  it  is  seen  that  in  all  English  history  there  is 
no  other  such  spot  of  light  Quite  within  bounds 
are  the  words  of  Algernon  Sidney : l  "  When  Van 
Tromp  set  upon  Blake  in  Folkestone  Bay,  the  Par- 
liament had  not  above  thirteen  ships  against  three- 
score, and  not  a  man  that  had  ever  seen  any  other 
fight  at  sea,  than  between  a  merchant-ship  and  a  pi- 
rate, to  oppose  the  best  captain  in  the  world.  But 
such  was  the  power  of  wisdom  and  integrity  in  those 
that  sat  at  the  helm,  and  their  diligence  in  choosing 
men  only  for  their  merit  was  attended  with  such 
success,  that  in  two  years  our  fleets  grew  to  be 
as  famous  as  our  land  armies,  and  the  reputation 
and  power  of  our  nation  rose  to  a  greater  height 
than  when  we  possessed  the  better  half  of  France 
and  had  the  Kings  of  France  and  Scotland  for  our 
prisoners." 

Still  more  significant  is  the  testimony  which  God- 
win quotes  from  Roger  Coke,  a  Royalist,  "  a  bitter 
and  scornful  enemy."  "  Thus  by  their  own  merce- 
nary servants,  and  not  a  sword  drawn  in  their  defence, 
fell  the  haughty  and  victorious  Rump,  whose  mighty 
actions  will  scarcely  find  belief  in  future  generations ; 
and  to  say  the  truth,  they  were  a  race  of  men  most 
indefatigable  and  industrious  in  business,  always 
seeking  for  men  fit  for  it,  and  never  preferring  any 
for  favor  nor  by  importunity.  You  scarce  ever  heard 
of  any  revolting  from  them  ;  no  murmur  or  com- 
plaint of  seamen  or  soldiers  ;  nor  do  I  find  that  they 

1  Godwin,  iii.  465.     See  also  the  tributes  of  Ludlow  and  Mrs.  Hutch- 
inson. 


1659.]  T^E  DISSOLUTION  OF  THE  RUMP.  417 

ever  pressed  any  in  all  their  wars.1  And  as  they  ex- 
celled in  the  management  of  civil  affairs,  so  it  must 
be  owned  they  exercised  in  matters  ecclesiastic  no 
such  severities  as  either  the  Covenanters  or  others 
before  them  did,  upon  such  as  dissented  from  them ; 
nor  were  they  less  forward  in  reforming  the  abuses 
of  the  common  law." 

We  have  heard  the  regicide  Thomas  Scott  defend 
the  execution  of  the  King.  It  is  worth  while  to  hear 
how  Scott  defended  the  "  fag-end  of  the  Long  Par- 
liament," in  years  long  after  its  great  work  was  done.2 
"  The  Dutch  war  came  on.  If  it  had  pleased  God 
and  his  highness  Oliver  to  let  that  little  power  of  a 
Parliament  sit  a  little  longer  (when  Hannibal  is  ad 
portas,  something  must  be  done  extra  leges]  we  in- 
tended to  have  gone  off  with  a  good  savor,  and  pro- 
vided for  a  succession  of  Parliaments ;  but  we  stayed 
to  end  the  Dutch  war.  We  might  have  brought  them 
to  oneness  with  us.  Their  ambassadors  did  desire  a 
coalition.  This  we  might  have  done  in  four  or  five 
months.  We  never  bid  fairer  for  being  masters  of 
the  whole  world  —  not  that  I  desire  to  extend  our 
own  bounds.  .  .  .  That  gentleman  says  the  Parlia- 
ment went  out,  and  no  complaining  in  the  streets, 
nor  inquiry  after  them.  That  is  according  to  the 
company  men  keep.  Men  suit  the  letter  to  their 
lips.  It  is  as  men  converse.  I  never  met  a  zealous 
assertor  of  that  cause  but  lamented  it  to  see  faith 
broken  and  somewhat  else." 

1  This  can  by  no  means  be  al-        2  Forster's  Henry  Marten,  p. 
leged.  385. 


418  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1659. 

Noble  years,  indeed,  are  they,  and  in  the  landscape 
of  the  time  three  figures  range  far  above  their  com- 
peers —  figures  then  not  far  from  equal  in  the  eyes 
of  men,  though  one  was  destined  to  tower  afterwards 
much  higher  —  Cromwell  upon  the  war-horse,  Blake 
upon  the  deck  of  the  "  Triumph,"  and  Vane  at  West- 
minster, the  heart  of  Parliament  and  of  the  Council 
of  State. 


PART   IV. 

TO  TOWER-HILL. 
1653-1662. 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

THE    HEALING   QUESTION. 

FOR  the  first  time  in  thirteen  years  Vane  was  in 
retirement,  if  we  except  the  few  weeks  just  before 
and  after  the  execution  of  the  King.  He  went  with- 
out doubt  to  the  noble  home  of  the  Vanes,  Raby 
Castle  in  Durham,  where  we  may  suppose  he  was  al- 
most a  stranger ;  for  his  absorption  in  the  perils  had 
given  him  scarcely  opportunity,  since  the  opening  of 
the  Long  Parliament,  to  go  so  far  from  his  place  at 
Westminster.  Raby  Castle,  bought  by  old  Sir  Harry 
after  it  had  been  long  the  seat  of  the  Nevilles,  is  still 
thoroughly  maintained  and  preserved  though  por- 
tions of  it  go  back  to  the  Danish  invasions,  the  lordly 
place  to-day  of  Vane's  descendant,  the  Duke  of 
Cleveland.  As  the  present  writer  rode  toward  it,  on 
a  fine  clear  day  at  the  end  of  summer,  the  highway 
passed  over  low  hills,  moor-land,  and  rich  fields  on 
which  grazed  the  cattle  that  have  made  the  shire 
famous.  The  fine  mass  of  Raby  Castle  appeared  at 


420  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1653. 

last  in  the  distance,  across  the  broad  park  where 
herds  of  deer  were  feeding.  It  is  substantially  as  it 
was  in  the  time  of  the  Civil  War,  except  that  the 
wall,  thirty  feet  high,  which  then  surrounded  it,  has 
been  for  the  most  part  removed.  From  the  gateway 
on  the  east  the  eye  follows  an  outline  picturesquely 
broken,  keep,  curtain  of  masonry,  tower,  and  inner 
portal,  all  battlemented  and  darkly  grim,  as  when 
young  George  Vane,  brother  of  our  Sir  Harry,  held 
it  stoutly  against  more  than  one  cavalier  siege.  From 
within  the  court,  where  many  a  war-like  troop  has 
gathered,  the  clash  of  their  arms  echoing  loudly  from 
the  high  enclosing  walls,  one  enters  the  great  struc- 
ture, passing  through  crypt  and  corridor,  into  cham- 
bers with  windows  cut  through  thick  masonry,  then 
from  the  high  Barons'  Hall l  down  the  broad  stair- 
way where  a  regiment  might  march  almost  without 
breaking  ranks.  There  were  nooks  whose  rugged 
strength  had  been  gained  from  trowels  and  hammers 
that  wrought  in  the  days  of  Canute.  Upon  a  beau- 
tiful pedestal  elsewhere  stood  Powers 's  Greek  Slave, 
the  original  statue.  So  one  went  from  the  eleventh 
century  to  the  nineteenth,  and  there  was  no  age  be- 
tween of  which  some  curious  carving,  some  strangely 
framed  timber,  some  antique  press,  or  contorted  piece 
of  iron  work,  did  not  bear  witness.  All  ancient  rude- 
ness, however,  was  softened  away  or  made  to  minis- 
ter to  modern  elegant  comfort.  The  loop-hole  from 
which  the  men-at-arms  of  the  Border  Wars  had  dis- 

1  "  Seven  hundred  knights,  retainers  all 
Of  Neville,  at  their  master's  call 
Had  sate  together  in  Raby's  hall." 

Wordsworth,  White  Doe  of  Ry  Is  tone,  Canto  III. 


i6ssO  THE  HEALING   QUESTION.  421 

charged  their  crossbows  holds  now,  as  in  a  frame, 
before  the  outlooking  visitor  a  lovely  glimpse  of  the 
park :  the  culverins  that  roared  defiance  in  the  days 
of  the  Henrys  lend  picturesqueness  to  the  little  ter- 
race among  the  flowers :  in  the  castle  kitchen  are  still 
the  cavernous  fire-place,  the  cranes,  the  great  spits  of 
the  ancient  cooks,  but  a  range  of  the  most  modern 
fashion  serves  for  the  present  housekeeping,  the  old 
appurtenances  adapting  themselves  to  the  changed 
order :  there  is  still  water  in  the  moat,  but  it  is  the 
swimming-place  now  of  the  Duke's  swans.  In  the 
Barons'  Hall  and  the  rooms  near  by,  a  long  line  of 
portraits  running  back  to  ancient  armored  knights 
presents  the  masters  of  Raby,  finest  in  the  series  the 
grave  face  of  the  man  whom  Cromwell,  Republican, 
wore  in  his  heart  of  hearts,  —  from  whom  Cromwell, 
despot,  prayed  that  the  Lord  would  deliver  him. 
Among  all  the  stately  homes  of  England  there  is 
scarcely  one  statelier. 

Hither  came  Vane  dismissed.  He  had  sprung,  let 
it  be  remembered,  from  the  inner  circle  of  the  privi- 
leged class  of  his  land.  His  ancestor  had  received 
the  accolade  from  the  sword  of  the  Black  Prince  on 
the  field  of  Poictiers  ;  the  Vane  arms  proudly  bore 
the  dexter  gauntlet  of  the  captive  King  of  France, 
given  to  that  ancestor  in  token  of  submission ;  and  in 
the  generations  since,  traditions  had  accumulated  of 
the  favor  of  Sovereigns  and  of  all  the  splendor  that 
attends  high  rank.  What  a  mark  of  greatness  that 
one  so  fathered  and  so  circumstanced  should  yet 
have  become  so  thoroughly  a  man  of  the  People, 
the  representative  of  ideas  so  thoroughly  American ! 


422  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1653. 

One  wishes  that  a  glimpse  into  Vane's  domestic  life 
were  recoverable.  We  shall  come  before  long  upon 
evidence,  amid  scenes  of  great  sadness,  that  he  was  a 
loving  husband  and  father,  but  no  picture  can  now 
be  given  of  his  life  with  his  wife  and  children.1  Dur- 
ing his  public  career  his  absorption  had  been  so 
great  that  only  transient  intervals  of  domestic  quiet, 
at  his  house  in  Charing  Cross,  and  his  seat  '  Belleau,' 
in  Lincolnshire,  can  have  been  possible  to  him.  The 
family  of  Lady  Vane  were  people  of  force  and  influ- 
ence. Her  father,  Sir  Christopher  Wray,  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Long  Parliament,  capable  sometimes  of 
spirited  conduct,  as  were  also  her  brothers.2  Of 
Lady  Vane  herself,  however,  we  know  nothing  except 
what  may  be  inferred  from  such  a  connection.  Roger 
Williams  dedicates  to  her  one  of  his  books,  and 
seems  to  have  held  her  in  respect.3  Of  children 
there  were  seven  sons,  five  of  whom  died  before  their 
father,4  and  five  daughters.  Vane's  line  descends 
from  his  youngest  son  Christopher,  born  in  1653.  Of 
Sir  Harry's  brothers  we  already  know  Charles,  as 
serving  the  Commonwealth  boldly  and  skilfully  in 
the  character  of  envoy  to  Portugal,  and  as  having  a 
creditable  prominence  while  supporting  Voluntary- 
ism in  1652,  in  opposition  to  the  State  Church  and 
the  somewhat  limited  toleration  which  the  more 

1  The  Duke  of  Cleveland,  while  •  "  I  have  received  a  large  and 
authorizing  me   to   inspect  Raby  pious    letter    from    Lady  Vane." 
Castle,  informed  me  that  no  man-  R.  W.  to  Joh.  Winthrop,  Jr.,  Oct. 
uscripts  or  documents   remained  25,    1649.     Narragansett  Papers, 
in  the  family  which  could  be  of  vi.  187. 

any  use  to  the  biographer.  4  Burke's  Peerage,  art.  "  Vane." 

2  Gardiner,  Great  Civil   War, 
i-  357- 


1653]  THE  HEALING  QUESTION.  423 

timid  favored.  Mention  has  been  made  of  George, 
who  seems  to  have  remained  at  Raby,  and  who  de- 
fended it  against  the  Cavalier  attacks.  Old  Sir 
Harry  is  still  upon  his  feet  and  at  the  front.  As  com- 
pliant as  his  son  was  uncompromising,  he  pocketed 
his  principles  serenely  at  the  coup  d'etat  of  Crom- 
well, sitting  presently  in  his  old  place  in  Parliament. 
From  a  member  of  the  Long  Parliament  he  became 
a  supporter  of  the  despotism,  as  at  a  former  time  he 
had  come  to  the  Long  Parliament  from  the  right 
hand  of  the  King.  Had  his  life  been  prolonged,  it 
is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  another  somersault 
would  have  landed  him  at  the  Restoration,  once 
more  at  the  side  of  a  Stuart.  He  found,  however,  no 
more  opportunities.  He  died  in  1654,  and  our  Sir 
Harry  ceased  to  be  "young."  As  we  dismiss  the 
father,  let  us  treat  him  with  no  unkindness.  In  times 
of  revolution  excellent  men  become  turn-coats.  For 
every  change  the  old  ex-courtier  made,  a  good  rea- 
son could  be  given,  and  in  every  change  he  had  com- 
pany of  the  best.  By  the  side  of  his  towering  son 
he  stood  dwarfed  to  a  point  almost  pathetic,  but 
there  is  abundant  evidence  that  while  not  conspicu- 
ous for  elevation  of  character  he  was  yet  a  trusted 
and  useful  public  servant.  His  knowledge  of  for- 
eign tongues  and  diplomatic  experience  made  him 
often  important.  His  "  bustling  "  was  often  to  good 
purpose.  That  he  must  have  been  respected  is  plain 
from  the  responsibilities  with  which  he  was  entrusted, 
for  "  he  was  in  commission  with  the  greatest  men  of 
the  nation  and  at  the  head  of  all  affairs."  *  Father 

1  Collins's  Peerage^  iv.  302. 


424  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1654. 

and  son  seem  always  to  have  been  on  the  best  terms, 
excepting  for  the  short  space  in  1641,  when  young 
Sir  Henry  revealed,  against  Strafford,  the  secrets  of 
his  father's  "  red  velvet  cabinet." 

The  leisure  in  which  Vane  now  found  himself  he 
spent  probably  more  at  Belleau  than  at  Raby  Castle. 
In  a  letter  belonging  to  this  period  he  lends  a  hand, 
from  his  Lincolnshire  seat,  to  his  friend  Roger  Wil- 
liams, sorely  tried  by  his  motley  crowd  at  Providence. 

"  Lovinge  and  Christian  Friends  :  I  could  not  re- 
fuse this  bearer,  Mr.  Roger  Williams,  my  kinde  friend 
and  ancient  acquaintance,  to  be  accompanied  with 
these  few  lines  from  myself  to  you,  upon  his  returne 
to  Providence  Colony ;  though,  perhaps,  my  private 
and  retired  condition,  which  the  Lord,  of  his  mercy, 
hath  brought  me  into,  might  have  argued  strongly 
enough  for  my  silence  ;  but  indeed,  something  I  hold 
myself  bound  to  say  to  you,  out  of  the  Christian  love 
I  bear  you,  and  for  his  sake  whose  name  is  called 
upon  by  you  and  engaged  in  your  behalfe.  How  is 
it  that  there  are  such  divisions  amongst  you  ?  Such 
headiness,  tumults,  disorders  and  injustice  ?  The 
noise  echoes  into  the  ears  of  all,  as  well  friends  as 
enemies,  by  every  returne  of  shipps  from  those  parts. 
Is  not  the  fear  and  awe  of  God  amongst  you  to  re- 
straine  ?  Is  not  the  love  of  Christ  in  you,  to  fill  you 
with  yearninge  bowells,  one  towards  another,  and 
constrain  you  not  to  live  to  yourselves,  but  to  him 
that  died  for  you,  yea,  and  is  risen  again  ?  Are 
there  no  wise  men  amongst  you  ?  No  public  self- 
denying  spirits,  that  at  least,  upon  the  grounds  of 


I6S4-]  THE  HEALING  QUESTION.  425 

public  safety,  equity  and  prudence,  can  find  out  some 
way  or  meanes  of  union  and  reconciliation  for  you 
amongst  yourselves,  before  you  become  a  prey  to 
common  enemies,  especially  since  this  State,  by  the 
last  letter  from  the  Council  of  State,  gave  you  your 
freedom,  as  supposing  a  better  use  would  have  been 
made  of  it  than  there  hath  been?  Surely,  when 
kind  and  simple  remedies  are  applied  and  are  inef- 
fectuall,  it  speaks  loud  and  broadly  the  high  and  dan- 
gerous distempers  of  such  a  body,  as  if  the  wounds 
were  incurable.  But  I  hope  better  things  from  you, 
though  I  thus  speak,  and  should  be  apt  to  think,  that 
by  Commissioners  agreed  upon  and  appointed  in  all 
parts,  and  on  behalfe  of  all  interests,  in  a  generall 
meeting,  such  a  union  and  common  satisfaction 
might  arise,  as,  through  God's  blessing,  might  put  a 
stop  to  your  growinge  breaches  and  distractions,  si- 
lence your  enemies,  encourage  your  friends,  honor 
the  name  of  God  which  of  late  hath  been  much 
blasphemed,  by  reason  of  you,  and  in  particular,  re- 
fresh and  revive  the  sad  heart  of  him  who  mourns 
over  your  present  evils,  as  being  your  affectionate 
friend,  to  serve  you  in  the  Lord.  H.  Vane. 
Belleaw,  the  8th  of  February,  1653-4." 

To  this,  in  a  letter  signed  "  Gregorie  Dexter, 
Towne  Clerke,"  which  has  much  of  the  spirit  and 
manner  of  Roger  Williams,  Providence  replied : 2 

"  We  were  in  complete  order  until  we  were  greatly 
disturbed  and  distracted  by  the  ambition  and  covet- 

1  Rhode  Island  Colonial  Records,  vol.  i.  285.  2  Ibid.  287. 


426  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1654. 

ousness  of  some,  who,  wanting  that  public  and  self- 
denying  spirit  which  you  commend  to  us  in  your 
letter,  occasioned  our  general  disturbance  and  dis- 
traction. Possibly  some  of  ourselves  are  grown 
wanton  and  too  active ;  for  we  have  drunk  of  the 
sweet  cup  of  as  great  libertie  as  any  people  that  we 
can  hear  of  under  the  whole  heaven.  We  have  not 
only  been  free  from  the  iron  yokes  of  wolfish  Bi- 
shops, but  have  sitten  quiet  and  dry  from  the  stream 
of  blood  spilt  by  the  Civil  War  in  our  native  Coun- 
try. Wre  have  not  felt  the  new  chains  of  the  Pres- 
byterian tyrants,  nor  consumed  by  the  over  zealous 
fire  of  those  called  godly  Christian  magistrates.  We 
have  almost  forgot  what  tythes  are,  yea,  and  taxes 
too,  —  either  to  Church  or  Commonwealth.  We 
have  also  enjoyed  the  sweet  privileges,  and  such  you 
know  are  very  powerful  to  render  the  best  of  men 
wanton  and  forgetful.  We  hope  you  shall  have  no 
more  occasion  to  complain  of  the  men  of  Providence 
town  or  Providence  colony,  but  that  when  we  are 
gone  and  rotten,  our  posterity  shall  read  in  the  town 
records  your  pious  and  favourable  letters  and  loving- 
kindness  to  us,  and  this  our  answer  and  real  endeav- 
ours after  peace  and  righteousness." 

Vane  was  no  doubt  glad  to  lay  down  public  life. 
"  There  is  none  that  know  the  frame  of  his  spirit," 
wrote  an  intimate  friend,1  "  but  can  bear  me  witness 
that  if  the  cause  of  God  and  the  good  of  his  people 
among  us  did  not  prevail  mightily  upon  him  he 
had  rather  enjoy  a  retiredness  under  the  immediate 

1  Stubbe  :  Malice  Rebuked,  A  Vindication  of  Sir  Henry  Vane,  1659, 
P-55- 


1655.]  THE  HEALING  QUESTION.  427 

teachings  of  God's  spirit  than  be  taken  up  with  dis- 
tracting employments  in  Parliaments  and  Councils." 

Interesting  proofs  are  preserved  which  indicate 
that  Cromwell  and  Vane,  in  the  years  after  the  Disso- 
lution of  the  Rump,  yearned  for  one  another  in  spite 
of  their  differences.  Thurloe,  who  had  been  St. 
John's  secretary  in  Holland,  had  come  to  stand  in 
the  same  relation  to  Cromwell.  He  was  a  great 
figure  among  the  Cromwellians  now,  and  has  put 
posterity  under  a  special  obligation  by  his  "  State 
Papers,"  a  collection  of  bulky  tomes,  in  which  many 
valuable  documents  are  treasured.  Toward  the 
close  of  1655,  Cromwell  seems  to  have  written  Vane 
a  most  friendly  note  enclosed  in  one  from  Thurloe, 
to  which  Vane  responds  from  Belleau,  December  20, 
I655.1  "The  enclosed  I  have  received.  .  .  .  I  desire 
not  to  be  insensible  of  the  civility  intended  mee  in  it 
by  the  first  hand,  which  accordingly  I  desire  you  to 
represent  in  the  fittest  manner  you  please,  from  one 
who  upon  those  primitive  grounds  of  publick-spirit- 
edness  and  sincere  love  to  our  country  and  the  godly 
party  in  it,  am  still  the  same  as  ever,  both  in  true 
friendship  to  his  person,  and  in  unchangeable  fidelity 
to  the  cause  so  solemnly  engaged  in  by  us." 

Before  this  time,  Roger  Williams  speaks 2  of  Vane 
as  "  returned  into  Lincolnshire,  yet  daily  missed  and 
courted  for  his  assistance :  "  and  still  earlier,  June  $d, 
1653,  a  letter  from  a  Royalist  spy  in  London,  intended 
for  the  Hague  but  intercepted,  says : 3  "  Young  Sir 

1  Thurloe,  State  Papers,  iv.  329. 

2  Letter  to  Winthrop,  July  12,  1654,  Narragansett  Papers,  vi.  260. 
8  Thurloe,  State  Papers,  i.  265. 


428  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1656- 

H.  Vane,  notwithstanding  the  affronts  he  received  at 
the  dissolution  of  the  Parliament,  was  invited,  being 
in  Lincolnshire,  by  a  letter  from  the  Council :  which 
invitation  he  answered  by  a  letter  extracted  out  of 
that  part  of  the  Apocalypse,  wherein  the  reign  of  the 
saints  is  mentioned,  which  he  saith  he  believes  will 
now  begin :  but  for  his  part  he  is  willing  to  defer  his 
share  in  it  until  he  come  to  heaven,  and  desired  to 
be  excused  in  yielding  to  their  desires." 

But  however  it  may  have  been  with  Cromwell,  the 
feeling  of  his  party  toward  Vane  may  be  inferred 
from  some  sentences  of  Henry  Cromwell,  Oliver's 
second  son,  an  able  man,  now  in  high  command  in 
Ireland.  Writing  to  Thurloe  under  date  February 
6,  I656,1  he  complains  of  the  Quakers  as  making 
trouble  among  the  soldiers,  "  our  most  considerable 
enemy.  ...  I  wish  they  be  not  too  much  slighted  in 
England.  Sir  H.  Vane  and  such  like,  who  are  as 
rotten  in  their  principles,  can  make  good  use  of  such 
delusions  as  these,  Fifth  Monarchy  and  the  like,  to 
carry  on  their  designs."  Some  one  has  written  "  that 
Sir  Henry  Vane  goes  up  and  down  among  those  peo- 
ple and  others,  endeavoring  to  withdraw  them  from 
their  submission  to  the  present  government.  .  .  .  His 
expression  concerning  him  is,  that  if  he  be  not  pre- 
vented he  will  be  a  sad  scourge  to  England.  I  hope 
you  will  send  none  of  the  breed  of  him  into  Ireland." 

When  Henry  Cromwell  speaks  of  Vane  as  using 

"  delusions,  Fifth  Monarchy  and  the  like,"  and  when 

the  spy  declares  that  the  Knight  of   Raby  believed 

that  the  reign  of  the  saints  was  now  about  to  begin, 

1  Thurloe,  iv.  508,  509. 


1656.]  THE  HEALING   QUESTIONS  429 

it  can  by  no  means  be  said  that  there  were  no 
grounds  for  such  representations.  There  was  in  fact 
a  strange  side  to  the  character  of  Vane,  of  which 
heretofore  some  mention  has  been  made,  and  which 
now  must  be  more  fully  described.  While'  he  was 
ever  astonishingly  effective  in  all  the  practical  work 
of  statesmanship,  —  while  in  speech  he  could  be  so 
terse  and  direct,  and  while  he  was  magnanimously 
tolerant  of  all  beliefs,  interposing  no  bar  to  any 
aberration,  provided  only  the  good  order  of  society 
were  not  disturbed,  he  himself  became  devoted,  as 
his  life  advanced,  to  wild  speculations.  Now,  in  his 
retirement,  his  active  mind  relieved  itself  in  preaching 
and  writing,  his  deliverances  being  often  of  a  strain 
which  confused  many  of  his  contemporaries,  and  are 
confusion  thrice  over  to  the  modern  reader.  The 
so-called  "  Fifth  Monarchy  "  ideas,  —  that  after  the 
domination  in  the  world  of  the  Assyrian,  Persian, 
Greek,  and  Roman  empires,  the  reign  of  Christ  for 
a  thousand  years  was  at  last  about  to  begin,  —  ideas 
which  occupied  much  the  fanatical  minds  of  that  time, 
possessed  a  strong  attraction  for  Vane.  Mention 
must  be  made  here  of  a  book,  "  The  Retired  Man's 
Meditations,"  strangely  profitless  to  a  modern  reader, 
written  by  Vane  at  this  time,  the  concluding  passage 
of  which  will  give  some  idea  of  its  character : 

"  To  be  more  particular  in  describing  the  state 
of  things,  as  to  the  change  which  does  respect  the 
whole  creature,  during  this  thousand  years,  will  be 
needlesse ;  considering  that  the  general  expressions 
are  so  clear  and  full,  that  it  shall  be  a  glorious,  pure, 
incorrupt  state  unto  the  whole  of  creation,  which 


430  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1656. 

shall  then  keep  a  holy  Sabbath  and  rest  unto  the 
Lord,  a  seventh  part  of  the  time  of  the  world's  con- 
tinuance, in  which  there  shall  be  no  sowing  of  the 
field  nor  pruning  of  the  vineyard,  nor  exacting  any 
labour  from  the  creature,  but  what  in  voluntary  ser- 
vice it  shall  performe  by  way  of  homage  and  worship 
unto  for  the  use  of  his  saints,  during  the  1,000 
years,  who  are  yet  in  their  corruptible  natural  body, 
expecting  their  great  change.  Even  so,  come  Lord 
Jesus,  come  quickly." 

The  following  extracts  from  works  written  a  few 
years  later  than  this  imply  a  belief  in  an  immediate 
and  literal  second  coming  of  Christ,  and  the  Fifth 
Monarchy : 

"  What  then  remains  for  the  recovery  and  restitu- 
tion of  that  good  old  Cause  and  Way,  but  such  a  rea- 
sonable and  signal  appearance  of  God,  (as  aforesaid) 
in  the  valley  of  Jehoshaphat  ?  What,  but  the  taking 
things  immediately  into  his  own  hands,  for  adminis- 
tration of  Judgement,  and  giving  the  last  and  final 
decision  ?  Especially,  since  what  was  foretold  by 
Daniel  is  remarkably  accomplished  among  us,  to  wit, 
that  the  visible  Power  of  God's  People  should  be 
broken  and  scattered,  so  as  that  they  should  have  no 
might  remaining  in  and  with  them,  to  go  against  the 
Multitudes,  that  design  and  resolve  their  ruin.  There 
is  not  any  remedy  left  to  them,  wherein  they  may  ex- 
pect success,  but  from  such  a  signal  day  of  the  Lord's 
immediate  appearance  in  Judgement  on  their  behalf. 
For  their  sakes  therefore  O  Lord,  return  thou  on 
high  (Psalms  7.  7)  take  thy  Throne  of  Judicature, 
that  righteous  Judgement,  which  thou  hast  seemed 


I654-]  THE  HEALING   QUESTION,  431 

for  a  season  to  have  suspended,  upon  wise  and  holy 
ends  best  known  to  thyself."  l 

"  By  whom  was  this  people  (upon  whom  the  name 
of  God  was  called)  brought  under,  persecuted  and 
suppressed,  but  by  those  who  were  foretold  by  Dan. 
chap.  2,  and  most  lively  represented  and  described 
by  the  great  image,  which  was  the  subject  of  Nebu- 
chadnezzar's dream,  that  none  but  Daniel  could  re- 
hearse and  interpret,  signifying  the  persons  and  their 
successors,  that  should  be  found  possessing  the  uni- 
versal empire,  and  command  of  the  world,  during  the 
continuance  of  those  known  four  monarchs,  that  have 
followed  successively  one  after  another  according  as 
they  were  foretold  and  charactered  out  some  thou- 
sand years  ago,  and  are  now  standing  upon  their  last 
legs,  and  time  drawing  on  apace,  when  the  spiritual 
seed  of  the  same  Abraham  shall  be  made  heirs  even 
of  the  world,  by  faith  ?  and  what  was  done  by  Abra- 
ham, in  figure  and  type  as  to  his  conquest  over  the 
four  kings,  (Gen.  14,)  must  have  its  accomplishment 
in  reality  and  truth,  by  those  of  his  seed  that  are  the 
true  Israel  in  spirit,  who  by  the  spirit  of  life  entering 
into  them  at  the  appointed  time,  together  with  the 
charge  committed  to  them  of  pouring  out  the  seven 
vials  of  the  last  plagues  of  God,  shall  bring  the  final 
downfall  and  destruction  of  those  four  monarchs,  and 
in  and  with  it  of  the  kingdom  of  the  beast  and  of 
antichrist ;  and  bring  home  again  and  receive  the 
true  Lots  that  have  been  sojourners  in  the  Sodom  of 
this,  world."2 

1  From    a    piece    called    "  The  their  biographies  of  Vane  express 
Valley  of Jehoshaphat"  an  estimate  of  his  theological  writ- 

2  Epistle  to  the  Scattered  Seed  ings  very  different  from  mine. 
of  Christ.    Forster  and  Upham  in 


432  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1654. 

The  following  squib  aimed  at  Vane  by  some  ill- 
wisher  contains  without  doubt  among  its  poor  wit 
some  grain  of  truth.  The  catholicity  of  Vane's  spirit 
appears  even  in  the  unfriendly  picture. 

"  At  Raby,  being  my  mansion  ...  I  became  my 
own  chaplain,  where  I  edified  my  congregation  so 
powerfully  in  my  principles,  as  the  most  of  those  hear- 
ers in  my  synagogue  at  Raby  grew  most  heterodox- 
icall  Rabbies.  ...  A  Fifth  Monarchy  was  our  object ; 
and  who  those  Regents  should  be  we  had  positively 
voted,  yet  was  it  ever  intended  that  this  government 
should  have  its  gradations. . . .  There  was  neither  Ar- 
minian,  Socinian,  Famulist,  Anabaptist,  Independent, 
nor  Fanatick,  whose  acquaintance  I  admitted  not,  and 
with  whose  assertions  for  the  time  I  complied  not. 
These  I  over-wrought,  won,  and  made  mine  own." ] 

To  this  may  be  added  the  following  story,  signifi- 
cant as  showing  how  Vane  in  his  latter  days  came  to 
stand  in  the  popular  fancy.  John  Davenport  writes 
to  John  Winthrop,  Jr.,  from  New  Haven,  the  ist 
day  of  the  6th  month,  i66o:2  "  Brother  Streete  re- 
porteth  a  strange  passage  which  he  heard  at  Boston, 
which,  it  may  be,  will  minister  some  matter  of  laugh- 
ter unto  you,  as  it  doth  of  indignation  unto  me.  It  is 
this.  A  company  being  mett  somewhere  in  England, 
he  thinckes  they  were  Fifth  Monarchy  Men,  and  Sir 
Henry  Vaine  with  them,  it  was  propounded  that, 
seeing  Christ  was  not  yet  come,  they  should  thinck 
of  some  one  that  should  be  cheife  among  them  til  he 

1  Sir  Henry  Vane's  Politicks  or    1661,  p.  n  etc.    Thomasson  Tracts, 
his    Cases    of    Conscience,    lately     MDCCCXLIX. 
found  in  his   Cabinet  at  Arabic,        2  Winthrop  Papers,  Mass,  Hist. 

Coll.  vii.  515  (4th  series). 


1 654-]  THE  HEALING   QUESTION.  433 

should  come,  and  that  being  consented  to,  it  was 
considered  whom  they  should  choose,  and  it  was  con- 
cluded with  common  consent,  Sir  Hen :  Vaine : 
therefore  one  rose  up  with  a  viol  of  oile  which  he 
poured  on  Sir  Hen :  Vaine's  head  and  called  him 
King  of  Jerusalem.  Sit  fides  penes  authorem? 

Davenport  plainly  thinks  this  mere  calumny,  and 
we  may  be  certain  there  was  exaggeration  in  such 
a  report.  Much  of  Vane's  writing  at  this  time,  how- 
ever, is  incoherent  and  superstitious,  and  it  is  quite 
probable  that  he  showed  in  his  conduct  a  corre- 
sponding extravagance.  Such  things,  to  be  sure,  be- 
longed to  that  day,  and  yet  there  is  ample  evidence 
that  the  men  even  of  that  time  were  dumfounded 
that  a  character  who  in  one  field  was  the  embodi- 
ment of  sense  and  strength  should  be  in  another  an 
associate  of  those  whom  even  they  thought  crazy 
extremists.  We  have  seen  that  Cromwell,  while  his 
close  friend,  found  him  "  in  principles  too  high  to 
fathom,"  and  at  length  bursts  out  upon  him  as  "  a 
juggler."  Cromwell  was  by  no  means  alone,  and 
Vane's  political  influence  in  his  latter  years  seems  to 
have  been  impaired  by  a  distrust  of  his  judgment. 

So  much  for  the  weakness  of  the  strong  man.  It 
is  pleasant  to  turn  now  to  a  memorable  exhibition  of 
his  power,  to  an  act  of  his  life,  namely,  which  perhaps 
more  than  any  other  is  of  interest  to  Americans,  — 
his  exposition  of  the  idea  of  a  Written  Constitution^ 

1  In  the  account  which  follows  writer  has  been  greatly  aided  by 
of  Vane's  connection  with  the  a  number  of  legal  friends,  among 
idea  of  a  Written  Constitution,  the  them,  Dr.  Wm.  G.  Hammond, 


434  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1656. 

The  only  unique  feature  of  the  American  polity,  as 
compared  with  the  polities  that  preceded  it,  is  the 
provision  within  it  for  a  Written  Constitution.  The 
problem  of  the  fathers  was,  as  Lowell  says,  "  to  adapt 
English  principles  and  precedents  to  the  new  condi- 
tions of  American  life,"  and  the  system  which  they 
formed  for  the  United  States  is  but  a  modified  ver- 
sion of  that  of  Great  Britain  as  it  existed  between 
1 760  and  1787.  The  President  is  the  British  King  of 
the  eighteenth  century  —  a  magistrate  elected,  to  be 
sure,  for  four  years,  instead  of  inheriting  his  position 
for  life,  but  with  powers  and  functions  very  similar 
to  those  of  George  III.  A  still  closer  resemblance 
exists  between  the  House  of  Representatives  and  the 
House  of  Commons.  The  Senate  and  the  House 
of  Lords  are  less  nearly  analogous,  but  the  former  is 
nevertheless  plainly  foreshadowed  in  the  latter.  De- 
scending from  these  great  central  features  to  the 
lower  ranges  of  administration,  it  is  found  that  the 
entire  apparatus  throughout  the  States  for  the  ren- 
dering of  justice  and  for  local  self-government  in 
town  and  county  has  come  down  almost  unchanged 
from  the  colonial  period,  constructed  after  the  mod- 
els of  the  mother  land.1 

In  the  midst  of  this  mass  of  traditions  and  imita- 
tions is  imbedded  one  innovation,  —  the  provision 
as  regards  each  State  and  as  regards  the  United 
States  for  a  carefully  formulated  instrument  to  be 

Dean  of  the  St.  Louis  Law  School,    of  the  St.  Louis  Bar,  and  Arthur 
Professor  J.  B.  Thayer  of  the  Har-     Lord,  Esq.,  of  Plymouth,  Mass, 
vard  Law   School,  F.  N.  Judson,        l  See  Sir  Henry  Maine :  Popu- 
Esq.,  and  I.  H.  Lionberger,  Esq.,     lar  Government,  chapter  on  the 

American  Constitution. 


1656.]  THE  HEALING   QUESTION.  435 

drawn  up  by  an  assembly  of  representatives  of  the 
people  distinct  from  the  legislative  assembly,  —  an 
instrument  to  be  interpreted  by  a  supreme  tribunal 
specially  empowered  for  that  purpose,  —  an  instru- 
ment by  which  the  whole  work  of  lawmaking  shall 
be  imperatively  controlled. 

No  such  controlling  instrument  has  guided  the  de- 
velopme^nt  of  Great  Britain,  or  of  any  other  land.  De 
Tocqueville  declared :  "  En  Angleterre,  la  Constitu- 
tion peut  changer  sans  cesse  ;  ou  plutot  elle  n'existe 
pas."  The  English  lawmakers  are  completely  un- 
fettered. Says  Blackstone  : 1  "  If  the  Parliament  will 
positively  enact  a  thing  to  be  done,  ...  I  know  of 
no  power  .  .  .  vested  with  authority  to  control  it ; " 
upon  which  passage  Christian,  called  by  Dr.  Francis 
Lieber,  the  ablest  commentator  on  Blackstone,  re- 
marks : 2  "If  an  act  of  Parliament  should,  like  the 

1  Commentaries,  \.  91.  118.)     Coke's  remark  is  said  "not 

2  Lieber's  Hermeneutics,  Ham-  to  be  extravagant,  but  a  very  rea- 
mond's  ed.  p.  161.   See  also  Dicey,  sonable  and   true  saying,"  in  the 
Law  of  the  Constitution,  p.  357,  case   of  the   City  of   London   vs. 
2d  ed.     One  may  find,  to  be  sure,  Wood  (12  Mod.  687).    Lord  Justice 
in  old  English  law-writers  the  idea  Hobart  declares  an  act  of  Parlia- 
that  there  are  fundamental  princi-  ment  to  be  void,  if  "against  natu- 
ples  superior  to  Kings  and  Parlia-  ral   equity,  —  as  to  make   a  man 
ments.     Coke,  in  his  famous  con-  judge  in  his  own  cause."     (Day  vs. 
flict  with  James  I,  declared,  follow-  Savage,  Hobart,  87.)     These  au- 
ing  Bracton,  Bk.  I.  ch.  viii.  sec.  5,  thorities  are  somewhat  in  conflict 
that    the    King    was    "  non     sub  with  Blackstone  and  Christian  as 
homine,  but  sub  Deo   and   lege"  quoted.     The  doctrine  of  the  ab- 
(Campbell,  Lives  of  the  Ch.  Jus-  solute  supremacy  of  Parliament  is, 
tices,  vol.  I.  '  Coke.')     Again,  he  in  fact,  a  modern  one  only  gradu- 
declared :     "  Common     law    doth  ally    adopted.    Jeremy    Bentham 
control  acts  of  Parliament  and  ad-  proclaimed  that  nothing  was  supe- 
judgeth  them  void  when   against  rior  to  legislation,  and  that  is  the 
common  reason  and  right."     (Dr.  theory  of  to-day. 

Bonham's   case,  8   Coke's  Reps., 


436  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1656. 

edict  of  Herod,  command  all  the  children  under  a 
certain  age  to  be  slain,  ...  it  could  only  be  declared 
void  by  the  high  authority  by  which  it  was  ordained." 
The  Written  Constitution  as  part  of  the  polity  of  a 
people  appears  for  the  first  time  in  America.  It  is 
the  most  distinctive  feature  of  our  system,  and,  more- 
over, that  probably  which  has  most  value. 

"We  have  not  yet,"  says  Dr.  W.  G.  Hammond,1 
"  fully  learned  the  vast  importance  and  momentous 
consequences  of  the  new  element  that  has  been  intro- 
duced into  the  science  of  government  by  ...  the 
recognition  of  two  distinct  and  unequal  grades  of 
law  (even  though  both  derive  their  authority  from  the 
same  supreme  power,  the  People)  one  of  which  al- 
ways controls  and  limits  the  other,  and  cannot  be 
changed  or  limited  by  it  or  by  any  of  the  ordinary 
processes  of  legislation :  and  consequent  upon  this 
the  securing  of  the  fundamental  maxims  of  the  gov- 
ernment, and  its  main  features,  against  attacks  of  the 
persons  in  authority,  while  they  are  yet  endowed  with 
the  powers  necessary  for  the  conduct  of  affairs." 
The  Fathers  put  as  many  obstacles  as  they  could 
contrive  (to  use  again  a  phrase  of  Lowell's)  "  not  in 
the  way  of  the  People's  will,  but  of  their  whim :  " 2 
above  all  is  the  Written  Constitution  a  bridle  upon 
popular  whim.  By  this  the  People  have  shorn  them- 
selves of  a  measure  of  their  power,  making  themselves 
safe  from  themselves,  and  thus  is  imparted  to  govern- 
ment the  highest  practicable  and  desirable  stability. 

No  American  estimate,  however,  can  have   such 

1  Western  Jurist,  April,  1869,  p.  65  etc. 

2  Democracy,  p.  24. 


1656.]  THE  HEALING  QUESTION.  437 

weight  as  the  testimony  of  observers  who  look  at 
things  from  outside.  Of  such  witnesses,  one  of  the 
latest  and  most  authoritative,  Sir  Henry  Maine,  speak- 
ing of  England,  declares:1  "Of  all  the  infirmities 
of  our  constitution  in  its  decay,  there  is  none  more 
serious  than  the  absence  of  any  special  precautions 
to  be  observed  in  passing  laws  which  touch  the  very 
foundations  of  our  political  system.  The  nature  of 
their  weakness,  and  the  character  of  the  manifold  and 
elaborate  securities  which  are  contrasted  with  it  in 
America,"  Sir  Henry  Maine  illustrates  carefully, 
reaching  "  the  surprising  result  that  before  a  consti- 
tutional measure  of  gravity  could  become  a  law  in 
the  United  States,  it  must  have  at  the  very  least  in 
its  favour  the  concurring  vote  of  no  less  than  fifty- 
eight  separate  legislative  chambers,  independently  of 
the  Federal  Legislature,  in  which  a  double  two-thirds 
majority  must  be  obtained.  The  alternative  course 
permitted  by  the  Constitution  of  calling  separate 
special  conventions  of  the  United  States  and  of  the 
several  states,  would  prove  probably  in  practice  even 
lengthier  and  more  complicated.  The  great  strength 
of  these  securities  against  hasty  innovation  has  been 
shown  beyond  the  possibility  of  mistake  by  the  act- 
ual history  of  the  Federal  Constitution.  .  .  .  The 
provisions  of  the  Constitution  have  acted  upon  the 
country  like  those  dams  and  dykes  which  strike  the 
eye  of  the  traveler  along  the  Rhine,  controlling  the 
course  of  a  mighty  river  which  begins  amid  mountain 
torrents,  and  turning  it  into  one  of  the  most  equable 
water-ways  in  the  world.  .  .  .  The  signal  success  of 

1  Popular  Government,  chapter  "  The  American  Constitution." 


YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1656. 

the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  in  stemming 
evil  tendencies  .  .  .  may  well  fill  the  Englishmen 
who  now  live  in  faece  Romuli,  with  wonder  and 
envy." 

What  is  the  history  of  the  Constitutional  Idea  ?  Al- 
though in  its  developed  form  it  is  not  to  be  traced 
until  the  establishment  of  America,  the  beginnings 
of  the  notion  must  be  sought  far  earlier.  Possibly  a 
germ  may  be  found  in  Magna  Charta,  where  it  is  or- 
dained that  all  things  done  afterwards  violating  in 
any  way  its  provisions  shall  be  null  and  void.  An- 
other germ  may  be  found  in  the  charters  by  which 
the  guilds  of  the  Middle  Ages  were  constituted.1 
Each  corporation  found  its  grant  of  privileges  ac- 
companied by  a  code  of  obligations,  to  which  it  was 
forced  to  conform  under  penalty  of  losing  those 
privileges.  The  English  settlement  of  America  was 
made  by  great  trading  corporations,  the  charters  of 
which,  originally  nothing  more  than  grants  made  to 
guilds  in  true  mediaeval  fashion,  '  perverted '  into 
instruments  of  government,  stood  behind  the  colonial 
assemblies,  like  the  Constitutions  behind  the  Legis- 
latures, State  and  Federal,  of  the  American  Union. 

An  essential  part  of  an  American  Constitution, 
however,  is  that  it  comes  from  the  People.  The 
People  thus  save  themselves  from  themselves. 
Where  and  how  enters  into  the  idea  this  element 
of  noble  self-restriction  ?  Magna  Charta,  extorted, 
while  as  yet  the  People  were  voiceless,  from  John  by 
the  barons  and  churchmen,  is  in  form  a  grant  of 

1  Brooks  Adams  :  Embryo  of  a  Commonwealth,  Atlantic  Monthly, 
November,  1884. 


1656.]  THE  HEALING  QUESTION.  439 

privilege  and  imposition  of  duty  by  the  King.  The 
charters  of  the  mediaeval  guilds  are,  in  like  manner, 
grants  and  impositions  by  the  over-lord,  —  King, 
noble,  or  monastery,  —  the  people  as  yet  having  no 
agency  in  the  matter.  For  the  entrance  of  the 
People  upon  the  scene  we  must  wait  until  a  later 
day.  The  Social  Compact  on  board  the  "  Mayflower," 
and  the  similar  agreement  of  the  settlers  of  Rhode 
Island  in  1637  —  instruments  in  which  English  ex- 
iles bind  themselves  into  a  body  politic  —  have  been 
much  insisted  on  as  Constitutional  beginnings.  The 
men,  however,  are  so  few  and  their  agreement 
couched  in  terms  so  brief  and  simple,  that  it  is  easy 
to  overrate  the  significance  of  the  documents.  More 
important  is  the  action  of  the  three  towns  of  Con- 
necticut, Hartford,  Wethersfield,  and  Windsor,  in 
1639.  As  Prof.  Johnston  has  just  made  plain,1  the 
emigration  from  Massachusetts  Bay,  led  by  Thomas 
Hooker,  to  the  Connecticut  Valley  was  a  democratic 
secession,  the  partakers  in  which  had  no  sooner  es- 
tablished themselves  than  they  formed  a  Constitution 
precisely  in  the  modern  fashion.  The  freemen  came 
together  in  convention  and  formulated  an  elaborate 
code,  by  which  the  Legislature,  when  assembled, 
found  its  course  narrowly  prescribed.  Undoubtedly 
it  would  be  wrong  to  underestimate  all  this  founda- 
tion work,  but  when  was  the  thing  first  done  upon 
a  national  scale  ?  Here  we  have  only  little  groups 
of  pioneers,  as  yet  on  shipboard  or  living  from  hand 
to  mouth  in  the  forest,  framing  systems  that  will  an- 
swer the  simple  needs  of  a  handful  of  human  beings. 

1  History  of  Connecticut,  p.  63. 


440  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1656. 

The  matter  of  Constitution-building  on  a  great  scale, 
for  a  populous  country,  with  all  its  complicated  ex- 
ternal and  internal  relations,  was  first  undertaken  by 
the  men  of  the  English  Commonwealth.  At  the 
deserts  in  this  field  of  these  prime  heroes,  we  may 
well  at  this  time  afford  to  take  a  glance. 

In  the  fall  of  1647,  we  have  seen  that  while  the 
leaders  hesitated,  the  rank  and  file  of  the  Ironsides 
demanded  that  King  and  Lords  should  be  laid  aside ; 
that,  each  reputable  man  in  the  land  casting  his  vote, 
representatives  of  the  people  should  be  chosen  who 
should  convene  in  a  legislature ;  that  over  this  legis- 
lature nothing  should  have  power  but  the  People 
who  elected  it,  and  that  there  should  be  no  limitation 
of  this  power  except  as  regarded  liberty  of  conscience 
—  there,  no  man  should  undergo  restraint.  A  year 
afterwards,  at  the  time  of  the  execution  of  the  King, 
all  this  was  carefully  formulated.  The  leaders,  civil 
and  military,  now  stood  with  the  men,  and  Henry 
Ireton  prepared  an  "  Agreement  of  the  People " 
which  was,  in  all  substantial  respects,  a  draft  for  an 
American  Constitution.  It  never  took  effect  be- 
cause, in  spite  of  almost  miraculous  prowess,  two- 
sevenths  could  not  prevail  over  five-sevenths.  A 
blind  and  perverse  generation  turned  back  to  Stu- 
art rule,  abandoning  the  achievement  of  popular  gov- 
ernment to  another  time  and  another  land.1  But  be- 
fore the  nascent  freedom  was  quite  overswept,  there 
came,  in  1656,  from  one  of  those  mighty  strivers,  an  ex- 
position of  the  whole  matter  of  Constitutional  theory 

1  The  "  Instrument  of  Govern-     in  no  way  from  the  People,  but 
ment "  of  the  Protectorate  came    from  a  military  Council. 


1656.]  THE  HEALING  QUESTION.  441 

—  the  first  ever  made,  and  yet  one  to  which  succeed- 
ing ages  have  made  little  essential  addition.  It  was 
the  work  of  young  Sir  Henry  Vane.  Cromwell,  long 
his  bosom-friend  and  fellow-Republican,  discouraged, 
had  seen  at  last  no  way  out  of  embarrassment  but  to 
make  himself,  through  power  of  the  sword,  absolute. 
After  he  had  thus  ruled  three  years,  opportunity 
came  to  Vane,  disgraced  and  in  retirement,  to  plead 
with  him  for  an  attempt  at  a  different  establishment. 

On  the  I4th  of  March,  1656,  Cromwell,  still  ill  at 
ease  over  the  state  of  things,  issued  a  declaration, 
calling  upon  the  people  to  observe  a  general  fast,  in 
the  hope  that  some  better  way  might  be  revealed.  As 
the  call  was  phrased,  the  people  were  to  apply  them- 
selves "  to  .the  Lord  to  discover  the  Achan  [Joshua 
vii]  who  had  so  long  obstructed  the  settlement  of 
these  distracted  kingdoms."  Vane  took  occasion 
now  to  break  the  long  silence  which  he  had  observed 
as  to  public  matters,  preparing  "A  Healing  Question 
propounded  and  resolved  upon  Occasion  of  the  late 
public  and  seasonable  Call  to  Humiliation  in  order  to 
Love  and  Union  amongst  the  honest  Party,  and  with 
a  Desire  to  apply  Balm  to  the  Wound  before  it  be- 
come incurable."  Vane  sent  the  "  Healing  Question  " 
to  Cromwell  by  Fleetwood,  the  latter's  son-in-law, 
but  when  a  month  had  passed  the  document  was 
returned  to  him.  Whether  Cromwell  had  read  it  is 
uncertain,  but  Vane  now  caused  it  to  be  published. 

The  Healing  Question  is  filled  from  first  to  last 
with  that  spirit  of  freedom  which  we  have  already 
found,  and  which  we  shall  continue  to  find  in  the 
declarations  of  Vane.  It  is  also  an  overture  toward 


442  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1656. 

reconciliation  with  Cromwell,  the  tone  being  ear- 
nestly, even  affectionately  respectful.  During  the 
three  years  of  his  government  there  had  been  "  great 
silence  in  Heaven,  as  if  God  were  pleased  to  stand 
still  and  be  a  looker-on  to  see  what  his  people  would 
make  of  it  in  England.  And  as  God  hath  had  the 
silent  part,  so  man,  and  that  good  men,  too,  have  had 
the  active  and  busy  part,  and  have  like  themselves, 
made  a  great  sound  and  noise  like  the  shout  of  a 
King  in  a  mighty  host."  He  naturally  finds  fault 
with  the  course  his  old  friend  has  pursued,  and  de- 
mands that  the  Parliamentary  method  shall  be  again 
restored.  "  That  branch  of  sovereignty  which  chiefly 
respects  the  execution  of  the  laws  "  he  thinks  may  be 
"  entrusted  into  the  hands  of  one  single  person,  if  need 
require.  .  .  .  And  all  disobedience  thereunto  or  con- 
tempt thereof,  be  taken  as  done  to  the  people's  sov- 
ereignty." He  is  apparently  willing  to  have  Crom- 
well remain  at  the  head  of  affairs,  but  there  must  be 
a  new  arrangement  for  the  government  of  England, 
which  must  no  longer  rest  upon  the  mere  will  of  the 
Army  or  its  General ;  and  here  he  makes  a  recom- 
mendation which,  if  carefully  weighed,  must  be  re- 
garded as  one  of  his  best  titles  to  great  fame.  He 
urges  the  calling  of  a  convention  for  the  drawing  up 
of  a  Written  Constitution,  giving  in  clear  terms  what 
may  be  taken  to  be  the  first  setting  forth  ever  made 
of  the  Constitutional  Idea,  —  the  first  setting  forth, 
yet  wanting  little  as  to  completeness.  He  recom- 
mends that  "  a  restraint  be  laid  upon  the  supreme 
power  before  it  be  erected,  in  the  form  of  a  funda- 
mental Constitution,"  and  considers  how  this  "  funda- 
mental Constitution  "  shall  be  established  as  follows : 


1656.]  THE  HEALING   QUESTION.  443 

"  The  most  natural  way  for  which  would  seem  to 
be  by  a  general  council  or  convention  of  faithful, 
honest,  and  discerning  men,  chosen  for  that  purpose 
by  the  free  consent  of  the  whole  body,  ...  by  order 
from  the  present  ruling  power,  considered  as  general 
of  the  army.  Which  convention  is  not  properly  to 
exercise  the  legislative  power,  but  only  to  debate 
freely  and  agree  upon  the  particulars  that,  by  way  of 
fundamental  constitutions,  shall  be  laid  and  inviola- 
bly observed,  as  the  conditions  upon  which  the  whole 
body  so  represented  doth  consent  to  cast  itself  into 
a  civil  and  politic  incorporation.  .  .  .  Which  condi- 
tions so  agreed  .  .  .  will  be  without  danger  of  being 
broken  or  departed  from,  considering  of  what  it  is 
they  are  conditions,  and  the  nature  of  the  convention 
wherein  they  are  made,  which  is  of  the  People  repre- 
sented in  their  highest  state  of  sovereignty,  as  they 
have  the  sword  in  their  hands  unsubjected  unto 
the  rules  of  civil  government,  but  what  themselves, 
orderly  assembled  for  that  purpose,  do  think  fit  to 
make.  And  the  sword  upon  these  conditions  sub- 
jecting itself  to  the  supreme  judicature  thus  to  be' 
set  up,  how  suddenly  might  harmony,  righteousness, 
love,  peace,  and  safety  unto  the  whole  body  follow 
hereupon,  as  the  happy  fruit  of  such  a  settlement,  if 
the  Lord  have  any  delight  to  be  amongst  us !  " 

Under  a  Constitution  so  established  Vane  believes 
that  Englishmen  "  may  be  well  assured  that  light 
will  spring  up  among  them  more  and  more  unto  the 
perfect  day,"  —  that  the  troubles  of  the  land  "  will 
prove  as  shadows  ready  to  flee  away  before  the  morn- 
ing brightness  of  Christ's  heavenly  appearance  and 


444  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1656. 

second  coming,  to  the  bringing  in  that  Kingdom  of 
his  that  shall  never  be  moved."  l 

The  "  Healing  Question  "  is  hard  reading,  as  the 
prose  of  Milton  is  hard.  Like  the  utterances  of  u  the 
god-gifted  organ  voice  of  England,"  so  the  periods 
of  Vane,  often  full  of  a  certain  long-drawn  music,  do 
not  readily  yield  up  their  content  to  the  somewhat 
decrepit  comprehension  of  our  less  masculine  age. 
Across  the  thought  drift  obscurities,  dimly  and  sol- 
emnly luminous  from  fanatic  heats  that  glowed  deep 
within  the  soul  of  the  Puritan  enthusiast.  A  great 
idea,  however,  is  clearly  outlined  —  the  presentment, 
perhaps,  gaining  impressiveness  from  the  vague 
rhapsodizing  by  which  it  is  here  and  there  attended, 
as  a  peak,  draped  in  vapor  which  is  aglow  from  un- 
seen volcano  fires,  grows  sublime.  In  the  midst  of 
such  circumstances,  for  the  first  time  in  the  history 
of  the  world,  the  Constitutional  Idea  finds  exposition. 

1  It    may  be   thought  that   no  garding  a  statute  which  conflicts 

exposition   of   the    Constitutional  therewith,  .  .  .  seems  to   him   to 

Idea     can     be    called    complete  be  a  novel  and  brilliant  invention, 

which  contains   no  mention  of  a  instead  of  a  mere  instance   of  a 

Supreme  Court  for  the  interpre-  general   doctrine   of   English  law 

tation  of  the  Constitution.      But  adapted  to  States   partially  subor- 

really  cannot  this  be  regarded  as  dinated  to  a  Federal  Government." 

a  necessary  corollary  from  such  a  (Bryce  :  Joh.  Hop.  Univ.  Stud,  in 

statement  as  Vane's  ?    De  Tocque-  Histor.  and  Po lit.  Set.  5th  Series, 

ville  and  others  have  incorrectly  No.  ix.  p.  26.)     This  function  of 

regarded  the  idea  of  the  Supreme  the  English  Courts  Vane,  no  doubt, 

Court  as  a  brilliant  American  in-  knew,  and  he  may  well  have  felt 

vention.     "  Much  which  is  really  that  his  scheme  presupposed,  as  a 

English  appears   to   De  Tocque-  matter  of  course,  that  the  judiciary 

ville   to  be   American  or  Demo-  should  decide  in  doubtful  cases, 

cratic.       The    function     of     the  See  also  Brooks  Adams :  Atlantic 

judges,  for  instance,  in  expound-  Monthly,  November,  1884,  "  Em- 

ing   the  Constitution,  and   disre-  bryo  of  a  Commonwealth"  at  end. 


1656.]  THE  HEALING   QUESTION.  445 

One  wishes  that  Cromwell  and  Vane  might  have 
come  together  again.  How  fine  is  Carlyle's  picture 
of  Cromwell  as  he  assumes  the  Protectorate,  Decem- 
ber 16,  1653.  "'His  Highness  was  in  a  rich  but 
plain  suit ;  black  velvet,  with  cloak  of  the  same : 
about  his  hat  a  broad  band  of  gold.'  Does  the 
reader  see  him  ?  —  a  rather  likely  figure,  I  think. 
Stands  some  five  feet  ten  or  more ;  a  man  of  strong 
solid  stature,  and  dignified,  now  partly  military  car- 
riage :  the  expression  of  him  valor  and  devout  intel- 
ligence, —  energy  and  delicacy  on  a  basis  of  simpli- 
city. Fifty-four  years  old,  gone  April  last ;  brown 
hair  and  moustache  are  getting  grey.  A  figure  of 
sufficient  impressiveness ;  —  not  lovely  to  the  man- 
milliner  species,  nor  pretending  to  be  so.  Massive 
stature ;  big  massive  head|of  somewhat  leonine  as- 
pect ;  —  wart  above  the  right  eye-brow ;  nose  of  con- 
siderable blunt  aquiline  proportions  ;  strict  yet  copi- 
ous lips,  full  of  all  tremulous  sensibilities,  and  also, 
if  need  were,  of  all  fierceness  and  vigors ;  deep  lov- 
ing eyes,  call  them  grave,  call  them  stern,  looking 
from  under  those  craggy  eye-brows  as  if  in  life- 
long sorrow,  and  yet  not  thinking  it  sorrow,  think- 
ing it  only  labor  and  endeavor ;  on  the  whole,  a 
right  noble  lion-face  and  hero-face,  and  to  me  royal 
enough." 

One  can  imagine  for  Vane  a  presence  not  less 
touching  and  dignified.  He  stood  then  in  his  best 
years,  his  fine  features  stamped  with  manly  gravity, 
a  shadow  from  the  perils  and  labors  of  that  long 
period  of  revolution,  which  only  a  soul  of  the  most 
heroic  mould  could  have  borne.  The  abundant 


446  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1656. 

golden  hair  of  his  youth  may  well  have  grown  gray 
and  thin.  What  could  one  have  seen  in  those  steady 
brown  black  eyes  ?  a  far-away  look,  as  of  one  fond  of 
losing  himself  in  deep  and  intricate  speculations  ;  — 
or  the  clear  glance  of  a  man  of  affairs,  of  the  finest 
organizing  faculty  and  keenest  practical  discrimina- 
tion ?  There  were  strange  contradictions  in  his  char- 
acter :  which  of  the  two  so  different  men  that  dwelt 
within  him,  must  we  suppose  looked  forth  in  the 
countenance  ? 

So  they  stood,  so  long  and  in  such  peril  the  clos- 
est friends,  now  not  far  apart,  and  yearning  we  may 
believe  for  one  another.  Were  they  never  again  to 
be  joined  ? 

In  the  portraits  of  Cromwell  and  Vane  by  Hou- 
braken,  fine  specimens  of  §that  great  engraver's  skill, 
Oliver  is  given  as  Carlyle  describes  him,  a  face  of 
tenderness  and  yet  of  power,  a  fit  front  for  the 
Protector  of  a  nation  languishing  and  peril-begirt. 
Upon  the  countenance  of  Vane,  too,  sit  a  noble 
strength  and  dignity,  —  refinement  also  and  a  certain 
majesty,  as  if,  man  of  the  People  though  he  had  be- 
come, his  high  birth  would  still  assert  itself.  In  each 
case  the  old  artist,  somewhat  quaintly,  has  set  the 
figure  in  the  midst  of  emblems,1  pointing  at  the  ca- 
reer in  which  he  became  illustrious :  for  Cromwell 
the  sword  and  helmet ;  for  Vane  an  olive  wreath  that 
perhaps  hints  at  peace,  and  the  folds  of  a  heavy 
sweeping  curtain  suggestive  of  the  stately  circum- 

1  In  the  frontispiece  to  this  vol-  ture,  but  it  has  been  found  neces- 
ume  the  face  and  figure  of  Vane  sary  to  omit  the  adjuncts  described 
are  given  after  the  Houbraken  pic-  in  the  text. 


1 662.]  THE  HEALING   QUESTION.  447 

stance  of  Parliaments  and  Councils.  In  each  case, 
however,  there  lurks  among  the  emblems  a  symbol 
ominously  terrible  —  the  axe  of  the  headsman  !  Its 
helve  lies  side  by  side  with  the  sword  of  Oliver :  it 
protrudes,  half  concealed  by  the  falling  drapery,  be- 
neath the  form  of  Vane.  How  solemn  the  commu- 
nity here  brought  to  mind !  In  their  great  striving 
through  so  many  years  they  had  been  united  as 
brothers :  their  hearts  had  beat  in  unison :  in  the 
judgment  of  each  the  same  end  had  seemed  desir- 
able, the  same  means  expedient  for  securing  it.  A 
short  estrangement,  but  in  death  the  two  men  were 
to  come  together  yet  again.  The  head  of  Cromwell, 
struck  off  from  his  dead  body,  was  to  moulder  upon 
a  pole  above  the  gable  of  Westminster  Hall.  Vane 
was  to  feel  the  sharp  edge  while  yet  in  fullest  life. 
For  each  headless  victim  a  grave  of  dishonor,  —  a 
name  overwhelmed  by  the  meanest  contumely ! l 

1  Cromwell's  latest  biographer,  "  constitutional  limit "    upon    the 

Mr.  Frederic  Harrison  (Cromwell,  "  elected    House."    Since    in   his 

Macmillan,  1 888)  thinks  that  Crom-  view   the    People   alone  were  st> 

well  and  not  Vane  had  "the  fixed  preme,  he   would,  without  doubt, 

idea  of  the  founders  of  the  United  have  said  that  they  could,  if  they 

States  of  America,"  claiming  for  chose,  make  Executive  and  Legis- 

his  hero  that  he  alone  recognized  lative  co-ordinate.     He  had  no  ob- 

the  value  of  a  Written  Constitu-  jection  to  a  "  Single  Person,"  but 

tion,  and  that   he  believed   in  an  he  must  derive  his  authority  from 

Executive    co-ordinate    with,    not  the  People  —  not  from  the  Army, 

subordinate     to,    the    Legislative  not  from  himself.    Vane,  of  course, 

power:  whereas  "the  fixed  idea  of  had  no  recognition  of  the  expedi- 

Vane  .  .  .  was    to    establish    the  ency  of  the  balance    among    the 

autocracy  of  an  elected  House,  su-  Executive,  the  Legislative,  and  the 

preme  over  the  Executive,  and  free  Judiciary :  that  came  in  with  Mon- 

from  any  constitutional  limit,  just  tesquieu,    a     century    afterwards, 

as  we  see  it  [in  England]  to-day."  from  whom  our  constitution-mak- 

(p.  196.)     No  reader  of  the  Heal-  ers  learned  it.  But  so  far  as  Vane's 

ing  Question  can  believe  that  Vane  thought  went  it  was  soundly  Amer- 

failed  to  recognize  the  value  of  a  ican. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

RICHARD'S   PARLIAMENT. 

THURLOE  writes  to  Henry  Cromwell,  June  16: 
"  We  are  yet  very  much  troubled  with  the  Fifth 
Monarchy  men  and  the  Levellers,  who  have  their 
constant  meeting  to  put  us  into  blood.  By  the  Lev- 
ellers I  mean  those  who  pretend  to  a  republique  or 
popular  form  of  government.  Sir  H.  Vane  hath 
lately  put  forth  a  new  form  of  government  plainly 
laying  aside  thereby  that  which  now  is.  ...  At  the 
first  coming  out  of  it  it  was  applauded,  but  now  upon 
second  thoughts  it  is  rejected  as  being  impracticable, 
and  arguing  in  truth  at  setting  up  the  Long  Parlia- 
ment again.  But  all  men  judge  that  he  hath  some 
very  good  hopes,  that  he  showes  so  much  courage. 
His  name  is  not  to  it  but  he  doth  acknowledge  it  to 
be  his.  It  is  certain  it  doth  behove  us  to  have  a 
watchful  eye  upon  that  interest."1 

Vane  was  summoned  before  the  Council  by  a 
curt  writ.  He  at  once  went  to  London,  and  from 
his  house  at  Charing  Cross,  August  20,  wrote  a 
manly  letter2  denying  their  authority  to  compel  him 
to  appear,  but  expressing  his  willingness  to  do  so. 
On  the  2ist  he  was  under  examination,  where,  says 

1  Thurloe,  v.  122.  2  Ibid.  v.  328. 


1656.]  RICHARD'S  PARLIAMENT.  449 

Thurloe  to  Henry  Cromwell,1  "  he  owned  the  writ- 
ing of  it  [The  Healing  Question]  but  in  termes  darke 
and  misterious  enough,  as  his  manner  is."  He  was 
laid  under  bonds  of  £5000  to  do  nothing  against  the 
Protector's  government.  To  this  he  declined  to 
submit,  declaring  that  the  "  Healing  Question," 
which  they  call  seditious,  "  asserts  the  principles, 
spirit,  and  justice  of  the  cause  we  have  professed  and 
fought  for  in  our  late  Warre  .  .  .  nor  can  I  but  ob- 
serve how  exactly  those  that  have  made  this  order  do 
tread  in  the  steps  of  the  late  King." 

Writs  for  a  new  Parliament  had  been  issued  July 
10,  and  Vane  had  tried  in  three  places  to  be  elected 
for  it.2  Whalley  and  Lilburne,  Major-Generals  in 
the  North,  watched  him  narrowly,  reporting  to  the 
centre  what  they  discovered.3  "  If  anything  inable 
him  to  be  chosen,"  wrote  the  former,  "  I  fear  it  will  be 
his  being  at  this  juncture  of  time  sent  for."  Instead 
of  a  seat  in  Parliament,  Vane's  fate  was  to  fall  into 
prison.  September  gih  he  was  committed  to  Caris- 
brook  Castle,  the  governor  being  charged  to  let  no 
one  speak  to  him  except  in  presence  of  an  officer. 
In  receiving  Oliver's  condemnation  he  was  in  good 
company; — Harrison,  Bradshaw,  Ludlow,  Lawson, 
the  soldiers  Rich,  Okey,  Alured,  and  others  who  had 
done  manful  work  in  the  Honest  Party,  were  dealt 
with  at  the  same  time.  In  the  circumstances  it  can- 
not be  said  Vane's  treatment  was  severe.  No  plots 
that  beset  the  Protector  were  more  dangerous  than 
those  of  Republicans,  and  who  could  say  how  much 
aid  and  comfort  the  "  Healing  Question "  might 

1  Thurloe,  v.  349.  2  Ibid.  v.  349.  8  Ibid.  v.  296,  299. 


450  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1656. 

afford  those  who  engineered  them  !  It  was  read  and 
pondered  widely. 

Vane  signalized  his  arrival  at  Carisbrook  by  an 
outspoken  warning  to  Cromwell,  of  which  the  follow- 
ing strong  sentences  are  a  portion :  — 

"  My  Lord :  Having  something  in  my  mind  to 
speak  by  way  of  more  peculiar  address  and  concern- 
ment to  your  Lordship  than  the  rest  of  your  com- 
pany, I  have  chosen  to  do  it  by  these  lines,  as  the 
testimony  which  upon  this  occasion,  I  desire  to 
speak  before  your  own  conscience  in  the  sight  ^of 
God.  ...  I  am  as  little  satisfied  with  your  active, 
and  ^^establishing  principles,  in  the  lively  colours 
wherein  daily  they  show  themselves,  as  you  are  or 
can  be  with  my  passive  ones,  and  am  willing  in  this 
to  joyn  issue  with  you,  and  to  beg  of  the  Lord  to 
judge  between  us  and  to  give  the  decision  according 
to  truth  and  righteousness. 

"  And  having  named  truth  and  righteousness,  surely 
it  may  but  too  truly  be  said,  that  amongst  us  remains 
nothing  but  the  name, .the  power  and  life  thereof 
seems  to  be  ceased  from  our  land,  and  is  banished 
from  the  societies  of  most  men.  Yet,  my  Lord,  it  is 
that  whereby  the  actions  and  practice  of  all  men  are 
to  be  ruled,  as  well  of  Governours  as  of  the  governed. 
Governours  themselves  are  neither  to  be  nor  make 
themselves  more  than  what  in  truth  and  righteous- 
ness they  are  and  ought  to  be.  ...  That  which  in 
truth  pf  fact  you  were  is  visible  enough  to  every 
eye,  tnat  is  to  say,  under  the  Legislative  Author- 
ity of  the  People  Represented  in  Parliament,  duly 
chosen  and  rightly  constituted :  You  and  the  force 


1656.]  RICHARD'S  PARLIAMENT.  451 

under  your  command  are  the  nation's  strength  and 
formed  military  power,  kept  up  by  a  derived  authority 
from  them,  at  a  settled  pay  to  be  imployed  for  the  Na- 
tion's use  and  service  and  theirs  only ;  and  over  this 
military  body  you  are  by  them  placed  as  the  head. 

"  This  then  is  the  power  which  duly  and  properly 
you  are,  and  more  than  this,  I  am  not  satisfied  in  my 
conscience,  is  in  truth  and  righteousness  appertain- 
ing unto  you ;  to  use  this  power  lawfully,  is  your 
honour,  your  duty,  your  safety,  as  well  as  their  wel- 
fare, and  preservation,  for  whom  it  was  raised  and  is 
still  paid.  To  use  this  unlawfully,  as  evidently  you 
doe,  is  to  become  like  that  one  sinner,  which  (Eccles. 
9.  19,)  is  said  to  destroy  much  good. 

"  And  although  your  own  conscience  cannot  but 
consent  to  the  truth  of  what  is  here  told  you,  in  the 
name  and  fear  of  the  Lord,  yet  being  strong  and 
trusting  to  the  power  of  your  sword,  which  is  flesh 
and  not  spirit,  is  man  and  not  God,  your  heart  is  lifted 
up,  if  you  speedily  repent  not,  unto  your  destruction. 
...  In  reference  as  well  to  Christ,  your  heavenly 
head,  as  to  the  good  people  of  this  nation  in  Parlia- 
ment assembled,  and  rightly  constituted  who  were, 
and  ought  to  be  your  earthly  head ;  you  lift  up  your 
heel,  and  harden  yourself  every  day  more  than  other, 
in  a  fixed  resolution  not  to  become  subject,  as  is  your 
duty,  nor  to  hold  and  keep  yourself  in  your  due  sta- 
tion allotted  to  you  in  the  body ;  but  are  arguing  at 
the  throne  in  spirituals  as  well  as  temporals  ;  and  to 
set  up  yourself  in  a  capacity  of  not  holding  your 
head  either  in  the  one  consideration  or  the  other. 
.  .  .  Take  then  in  good  part  before  it  be  too  late, 


452  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1656. 

this  faithful  warning  and  following  advice  of  an  an- 
cient friend,  but  is  now  thought  fit  to  be  used  and 
dealt  with  as  an  enemy." ] 

Vane  was  released  December  3ist,  after  an  impris- 
onment of  four  months.  No  traditions  of  him  linger 
at  Carisbrook.  The  fine  old  castle  rises  in  the  centre 
of  the  Isle  of  Wight  more  beautiful,  no  doubt,  in  its 
ruin  than  ever  in  its  strength.  Through  all  the 
epochs  of  English  history  it  has  been  a  stronghold. 
The  barrows  of  the  Britons  rise  by  the  side  of  the 
later  walls,  and  the  spade  uncovers  Roman  tessel- 
lated pavements  in  the  immediate  neighborhood. 
The  yellow  ruins  are  hung  thick  with  ivy,  and  within, 
staircase  and  floor  so  far  remain  that  one  can  go 
from  room  to  room,  getting  hints  from  the  wide 
chimneys,  the  deep  window-seats,  the  utensils  and 
carving,  how  life  has  gone  on  there  in  former  days. 
The  memory  of  Charles  I  it  is  that  beyond  every- 
thing haunts  the  pile.  On  that  beautiful  lawn  he 
played  at  bowls ;  here  on  the  parapet,  looking  off 
over  the  pleasant  fields  of  Wight  which  even  the 
winter  can  scarcely  rob  of  greenness,  he  disputed 
in  his  grave  kingly  way  with  ministers  and  politi- 
cians ;  in  this  room  he  wove  treacherous  plots ; 
through  this  grated  window  he  tried  to  escape.  That 
Vane  moved  in  these  same  spots  is  forgotten ;  and 
yet  to  the  English-speaking  world  of  to-day  how 
vastly  more  significant  his  figure !  Imprisoned  for 
the  "  Healing  Question,"  a  demand  for  perfect  tolera- 

1  This  letter  is  bound  up  with     Question,  preserved  in  the  British 
an  ancient  copy  of  the  Healing    Museum. 


1657.]  RICHARD'S  PARLIAMENT.  453 

tion,  for  complete  popular  sovereignty,  for  a  shaking 
off  of  old  shackles,  —  an  anticipation  of  the  best 
political  thought  of  to-day,  a  foregleam  of  all  that  is 
finest  in  the  American  polity !  How  masterful  he. 
was  in  ways  of  which  the  King  knew  nothing !  If 
impracticable,  what  a  prophet  of  a  great  time  to 
come  ! 

Henceforth,  through  what  remained  of  Cromwell's 
life,  there  was  a  thorough  break  of  friendly  relations. 
The  Protector  no  doubt  thought  Vane  incorrigible, 
while  Vane,  who  after  a  while  was  allowed  to  live  as 
a  recluse  at  Raby,  believed  his  old  friend  selfishly 
ambitious,  and  beyond  hope  of  conversion.  Ludlow 
declares 1  that  Vane  became  the  subject  of  a  petty  per- 
secution, his  title  to  certain  "  forest  walks  "  near  Raby 
being  disputed,  while  he  was  privately  informed  that 
all  proceedings  should  cease  if  he  would  only  comply. 
Ludlow  is  an  honest  witness,  but  we  cannot  call  him 
unprejudiced.  He  was  in  the  same  boat  with  Vane, 
in  no  mood  to  do  justice  to  Oliver.  If  the  story  were 
true,  it  would  reflect  little  credit  upon  either  the  Pro- 
tector's sagacity  or  magnanimity,  and  few  men  have 
ever  surpassed  him  in  either. 

We  find  Vane  writing  in  his  quiet  a  letter  to  Har- 
rington, whose  "  Oceana  "  was  in  those  days  a  famous 
book,  "  A  Needful  Correction  or  Balance  in  Popular 
Government."  Also  a  theological  work,  "  Of  the 
Love  of  God  and  Communion  with  God,"  containing 
overmuch  of  the  obscurity  which  always,  in  his  writ- 
ings of  this  kind,  causes  the  despair  of  a  modern 
reader.  Meantime  the  great  Oliver  went  forward, 

1  ii.  594- 


454  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1657. 

prayerful,  sincere,  heroic,  beneath  his  vast  burden  so 
splendid  and  yet  so  onerous.  He  had  tried  re- 
peatedly to  surrender  the  nation  into  the  hands  of  its 
-own  representatives  sitting  in  Parliament,  reserving 
to  himself,  however,  authority  to  step  in,  if  need  were, 
and  guide  the  land,  with  fatherly  purpose,  through 
the  perils  that  encompassed  it :  in  his  devout  Puritan 
soul  he  felt  that  the  Lord  had  made  him  his  instru- 
ment, and  that  the  people  should  recognize  the  fact. 
Each  time,  however,  there  had  been  a  questioning  of 
matters  which  he  thought  should  not  be  touched,  and 
so  each  time,  at  the  autocratic  word,  St.  Stephen's 
had  emptied  itself,  leaving  all  to  the  Protector's 
sword.  The  title  of  King  had  been  put  aside,  but  a 
rule  more  absolute  than  that  of  any  English  King 
prevailed,  —  no  more  arbitrary,  however,  than  it  was 
beneficent;  and  under  the  influence  of  blended 
power  and  gentleness,  sullen  Cavalier  and  Presbyte- 
rian, uncompromising  Quaker  also,  and  outrageous 
Leveller,  were  gradually  sinking  into  acquiescence. 
Looking  abroad,  to  what  quarter  of  the  civilized 
world  did  not  the  arm  of  Oliver  extend,  as  potent  to 
beckon  into  life  all  things  great  and  good,  as  it  was 
to  dash  into  ruin  all  things  that  made  for  ill !  Who 
that  follows  that  wonderful  career,  that  reads  those 
letters  and  speeches,  stammering,  incoherent,  but  so 
charged  with  all  manly  worth,  will  abate  a  word  from 
Milton's  great  panegyric  ? 1 

"  He  was  a  soldier  disciplined  to  perfection  in  a 
knowledge  of  himself.  He  had  either  extinguished, 
or  by  habit  had  learned  to  subdue,  the  whole  host  of 

1  Defensio  Secunda  pro  Populo  A  nglicanoj  translation. 


I6S7-]  RICHARD'S  PARLIAMENT.  455 

vain  hopes,  fears,  and  passions  which  infest  the  soul. 
He  first  acquired  the  government  of  himself  ...  so 
that  on  the  first  day  he  took  the  field  against  the 
external  enemy,  he  was  a  veteran  in  arms.  .  .  .  The 
whole  surface  of  the  British  empire  has  been  the 
theatre  of  his  triumphs.  The  good  and  the  brave 
were  from  all  quarters  attracted  to  his  camp,  not  only 
as  to  the  best  school  of  military  talents,  but  of  piety 
and  virtue.  His  soldiers  were  a  stay  to  the  good,  a 
terror  to  the  evil,  and  the  warmest  advocates  for 
every  exertion  of  piety  and  virtue.  While  you,  O 
Cromwell,  are  left  among  us,  he  hardly  shows  a 
proper  confidence  in  the  Supreme,  who  distrusts  the 
security  of  England.  We  all  willingly  yield  the  palm 
of  sovereignty  to  your  unrivalled  ability  and  virtue 
except  the  few  among  us  who  do  not  know  that  noth- 
ing in  the  world  is  more  pleasing  to  God,  than  that 
the  supreme  power  should  be  vested  in  the  best  and 
the  wisest  of  men.  Such,  O  Cromwell,  all  acknowl- 
edge you  to  be ;  such  are  the  services  which  you 
have  rendered  as  the  leader  of  our  councils,  the  gen- 
eral of  our  armies,  and  the  father  of  your  country. 
Continue  your  course  with  the  same  unrivalled  mag- 
nanimity :  it  sits  well  upon  you.  To  you  our  coun- 
try owes  its  liberties,  nor  can  you  sustain  a  character 
at  once  more  momentous  and  more  august  than  that 
of  the  author,  the  guardian,  and  the  preserver  of  our 
liberties.  Hence  you  have  not  only  eclipsed  the 
achievements  of  all  our  kings,  but  even  those  which 
have  been  fabled  of  our  heroes." 

Vane  could  not  have  joined  in  such  praise ;  and  to 
Milton,  in  these  days,  Vane  had  become  one  of  those 


456  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1658. 

"  who  are  either  ambitious  of  honours  which  they 
have  not  the  capacity  to  sustain,  or  who  envy  those 
which  are  conferred  on  one  more  worthy  than  them- 
selves, or  else  who  do  not  know  that  nothing  in  the 
world  is  more  pleasing  to  God  than  that  the  supreme 
power  should  be  vested  in  the  best  and  wisest  of 
men."  Great  hearts  were  they  all,  long  together,  now 
severed,  the  little  rift  of  alienation  becoming  gradu- 
ally a  wide  chasm  :  partly  it  was  misunderstanding  of 
one  another's  thought,  partly  a  real  difference  of  view. 
The  time  had  come  for  a  change.  Cromwell^  in 
the  summer  of  1658,  watched,  broken-hearted,  by  the 
deathbed  of  his  favorite  daughter,  Lady  Claypole, 
at  Hampton  Court.  He  followed  her  to  her  grave 
in  Henry  Vllth's  chapel  at  Westminster,  then  sank 
himself.  He  was  seen  once  more  among  his  troopers. 
"  Before  I  came  to  him,"  writes  the  Quaker,  George 
Fox,  "  as  he  rode  at  the  head  of  his  life-guard,  I  saw 
and  felt  a  waft  of  death  go  forth  against  him ;  and 
when  I  came  to  him,  he  looked  like  a  dead  man."  A 
few  days  more  and  the  great,  simple,  devout  soul 
muttered  from  his  couch  his  dying  prayer : l  "  Lord, 
though  I  am  a  miserable  and  wretched  creature,  I 
am  in  covenant  with  thee  through  grace,  and  I  may, 
I  will,  come  to  thee.  For  thy  people  thou  hast  made 
me,  though  very  unworthy,  a  mean  instrument  to  do 
them  some  good,  and  thee  service;  and  many  of 
them  have  set  too  high  a  value  upon  me,  though 
many  wish  and  would  be  glad  of  my  death.  But, 
Lord,  however  thou  dost  dispose  of  me,  continue  and 
go  on  to  do  good  to  them.  Give  them  consistency 

1  Carlyle,  ii.  409. 


1658.]  RICHARD'S  PARLIAMENT.  457 

of  judgment,  one  heart,  and  mutual  love ;  and  go  on 
to  deliver  them,  and  with  the  work  of  reformation ; 
and  make  the  name  of  Christ  glorious  in  the  world. 
Teach  those  who  look  too  much  on  thy  instruments 
to  depend  more  upon  thyself ;  pardon  such  as  desire 
to  trample  on  the  dust  of  a  poor  worm,  for  they  are 
thy  people,  too  ;  and  pardon  the  folly  of  this  short 
prayer,  even  for  Jesus  Christ's  sake ;  and  give  us  a 
good  night,  if  it  be  thy  pleasure."  The  Lord  gave 
the  great,  sweet  soul  its  good  night  September  3d, 
the  day  of  Dunbar  and  Worcester. 

The  death  of  Oliver  was  the  signal  for  the  return 
of  Vane  to  public  life,  though  the  opportunity  did 
not  come  at  once.  Richard  Cromwell,  who  in  some 
indistinct  way  was  believed  to  have  been  nominated 
by  his  father  on  his  deathbed,  succeeded  to  the  Pro- 
tectorate, and  for  five  months  the  state  ran  smoothly 
under  the  impetus  given  it  by  the  great  hand  that 
was  now  mouldering.  Among  the  adherents  of  the 
dead  Oliver,  however,  factions  soon  began  to  form 
destined  to  develop  ere  long  a  perilous  discord. 
There  was  a  dynastic  party,  the  Cromwellians,  who 
cordially  recognized  Richard  as  his  father's  successor, 
and  sought  to  retain  him  in  all  the  power  which  his 
father  had  possessed.  Another  company,  however, 
composed  for  the  most  part  of  Army  officers,  desired 
a  diminution  of  the  Protector's  power.  They  wished 
to  have  Fleetwood,  Cromwell's  son-in-law,  com- 
mander-in-chief,  and  in  a  measure  co-equal  with 
Richard  in  the  administration.  The  meeting-place 
of  this  knot  of  men  was  Wallingford  House  close  by 


458  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1659. 

Whitehall,  the  residence  of  Fleetwood,  whence  they 
came  to  bear  the  name  of  the  Wallingford-House 
party.  At  length  writs  were  issued  for  a  Parliament, 
and  here  a  remarkable  retrogression  was  to  be  no- 
ticed. Whereas  the  two  Parliaments  of  Oliver's  Pro- 
tectorate (the  Barebones  Parliament,  as  made  up  of 
mere  nominees  of  Oliver,  does  not  merit  the  name) 
had  been  elected  according  to  the  reformed  plan,  pro- 
posed originally  by  Ireton  in  the  "  Agreement  of  the 
People,"  and  supposed  to  have  been  a  feature  of  the 
act  which  Oliver  had  caught  into  his  own  hands  at 
the  Dissolution  of  the  Rump,  there  was  a  return  now 
to  the  old  methods.  The  disfranchised  boroughs 
received  their  old  privileges,  the  new  distribution  of 
members  was  forsaken.  All  reverted  to  the  ancient 
time-honored  way.  It  was  done  at  the  instance  of 
the  lawyers,  and  the  nation  received  it  without  re- 
monstrance. 

This  Parliament  assembled  on  the  2yth  of  January, 
1659,  Westminster  overflowing  with  legislators  as  it 
had  not  done  since  the  time  of  the  assembling  of  the 
Long  Parliament.  There  was  an  Upper  House,  con- 
stituted of  Richard's  Council  and  the  Lords  whom 
Oliver  had  made  :  here,  probably,  the  Cromwellians 
and  the  Wallingford-House  party  had  not  far  from 
equal  weight.  Five  hundred  and  fifty-eight  members 
formed  the  Lower  House,  of  whom  twenty-five  sat  for 
Wales,  thirty  for  Ireland,  and  twenty-one  for  Scot- 
land. The  Irish  and  Scotch  members  were  almost 
to  a  rnan  government  nominees.  Of  the  English 
members  some  fifty  were  pure  Republicans,  and  we 
find  the  old  leaders  among  these,  who  had  either  been 


1659.]  RICHARD'S  PARLIAMENT.  459 

in  retirement  since  the  coup  d'etat  of  1653,  or  had 
figured  in  Oliver's  time  in  opposition  more  or  less 
definite  to  his  autocracy.  Bradshaw,  Scott,  Haselrig, 
Ludlow,  and  others,  were  there,  and  among  these  sat 
once  more  Sir  Henry  Vane.  He  had  been  elected 
not  without  difficulty.  Though  fairly  returned,  it  is 
said,  by  his  old  constituency  of  Kingston-upon-Hull, 
the  choice  was  thrown  out.  He  tried  at  Bristol  with 
similar  ill  fortune,  succeeding  only  after  a  third  at- 
tempt, at  Whitchurch  in  Hampshire.  The  large  body 
of  Cromwellians  was  led  by  Thurloe,  a  man  bold 
and  adroit,  while  the  most  conspicuous  representa- 
tive of  Wallingford-House  was  John  Lambert,  now 
and  henceforth  a  character  much  in  the  foreground. 
Although  but  just  forty  years  old,  he  had  been  con- 
spicuous since  Marston  Moor,  where  the  raw  recruits 
whom  he  commanded  refused  to  stand  before  the 
charge  of  Goring.  Of  Oliver's  pupils  and  lieuten- 
ants none  had  had  a  more  brilliant  record  in  the 
field.  At  Preston  he  was  Cromwell's  right  arm,  and 
many  believed  that  he  saved  his  master  at  Dunbar. 
Like  Ireton  he  was  bred  a  lawyer,  and  though  with- 
out Ireton's  weight  of  intellect  and  character,  he  was 
brilliant  and  versatile,  and  sometimes  displayed  a 
most  attractive  magnanimity.  He  once  allowed  six 
captive  soldiers  condemned  to  death  to  cut  their  way 
through  his  guard  and  escape.1  The  idea  of  the  Pro- 
tectorate is  said  to  have  been  due  to  him.  He  was  a 
prominent  figure  at  Oliver's  installation  and  stood  al- 
ways at  his  right  hand.  He  never  would  submit  that 
the  Parliament  should  be  over  the  Army.  His  wife, 

1  Ranke,  iii.  261. 


460  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1659. 

a  lady  of  good  family,  was  an  ardent  Vaneist,  as  the 
religious  followers  of  Sir  Henry  were  called.  A  mar- 
riage had  been  proposed  between  his  daughter  and 
the  young  Duke  of  York,  afterwards  James  II.  Soon 
after  this  time  we  find  a  match  talked  of  between 
a  daughter  of  Lambert  and  a  son  of  Vane,  still  an- 
other Henry,  who  died  before  reaching  maturity.  — 
Besides  Cromwellians,  Republicans,  and  Wallingford- 
House  adherents,  there  sat  in  Parliament  a  consider- 
able number  who,  as  all  felt,  were  secretly  Stuartists. 
Making  allowance  for  partisan  bias,  we  may  JDC- 
lieve  here  the  report  of  Clarendon,  who  says  that  this 
Parliament  was  governed  by  Vane  and  Haselrig, 
"  the  heads  of  the  republic  party,  though  of  very  dif- 
ferent natures  and  understandings.  .  .  .  Vane,  who 
was  much  the  wisest  man,  found  he  could  never 
make  that  assembly  settle  such  a  government  as  he 
affected  either  in  church  or  state :  and  Haselrig,  who 
was  of  a  rude  and  stubborn  nature  and  of  a  weak 
understanding,  concurred  with  him  in  all  the  fierce 
counsels  which  might  more  irrecoverably  disinherit 
the  King  and  root  out  his  majesty's  party :  in  all 
other  things  relating  to  the  temporal  or  ecclesiastical 
matters,  they  were  not  only  of  different  judgments, 
but  of  extraordinary  animosity  against  each  other."  1 
Haselrig  "  believed  the  Parliament  to  be  the  only 
government  that  would  infallibly  keep  out  King  and 
Bishop,  and  his  credit  in  the  House  was  greater  than 
the  other's ;  which  made  Vane  less  troubled  at  the 
violence  that  was  used,  (though  he  would  never  ad- 
vise it)  and  appear  willing  enough  to  confer  and 

1  p.  2954  etc. 


I6S9-]  RICHARD'S  PARLIAMENT.  461 

join  with  those  who  would  find  any  other  hinge  to 
hang  the  government  upon  :  so  he  presently  entered 
into  conversation  with  those  of  the  Army,  who  were 
most  like  to  have  authority." 

In  "  Burton's  Diary,"  *  we  have  the  means  of  fol- 
lowing, in  something  like  the  minuteness  of  modern 
reporting,  the  speeches  and  actions  of  Richard's  Par- 
liament. Vane's  first  great  speech  was  given  on  the 
9th  of  February  upon  the  matter  whether  the  Pro- 
tectorate existed  of  "  undoubted  right,"  based  as  it 
was  upon  the  "  Petition  and  Advice,"  an  instrument 
devised  in  Oliver's  latter  days  as  a  foundation  for 
his  power.  Here  are  significant  passages  from  this 
speech  :  "  Consider  what  it  is  we  are  upon  —  a  Pro- 
tector in  the  office  of  chief  magistrate.  But  the  of- 
fice of  right  is  in  yourselves.  .  .  .  You  may  have  the 
honor  of  giving  or  not  giving,  as  best  likes  you.  .  .  . 
Give  not  by  wholesale,  so  as  to  beg  again  at  retail. 
.  .  .  Look  well  about  you  that  it  slip  not  from  you 
without  considering  what  is  your  right  and  the  right 
of  the  People.  ...  I  observe  a  variety  of  opinions  as 
to  what  our  state  of  government  is.  Some  conceive 
that  it  is  in  King,  Lords,  and  Commons ;  that  the 
principles  of  old  foundations  yet  remain  entire,  so 
that  all  our  evils,  indeed,  are  imputed  to  our  depart- 
ure from  thence.  It  hath  pleased  God,  by  well- 
known  steps  to  put  a  period  and  to  bring  that  gov- 
ernment to  a  dissolution." 

Vane  declares  his  adherence,  in  the  earlier  time,  to 
the  time-honored  form,  and  shows  how  he  and  his 
friends  forsook  it  unwillingly,  because  they  were 
1  Edited  by  John  Towill  Rutt. 


462  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1659. 

forced  to  take  new  ground.  "  There  was  then  a 
declaration  drawn  in  favor  of  it.  I  was  one  of  that 
committee.  [The  allusion  is  to  the  Heads  of  Pro- 
posals of  1647.]  *  .  .  .  But  this  encouraged  the  King, 
and  brought  it  to  that  issue  at  last  that  he  hardened 
his  heart  till  it  was  resolved  to  make  no  more  ad- 
dresses, but  to  bring  him  to  judgment.  But  in  the 
mean  time  applications  were  made  to  him,  imploring 
him  to  be  reconciled ;  and  nothing  was  wanting  in 
the  House,  that,  if  possible,  he  might  have  saved  the 
government  and  himself  with  it ;  but  God  would  not 
have  it  so.  ...  This  House  .  .  .  were  reduced  to 
the  necessity  of  doing  that  which  is  now  the  founda- 
tion of  that  building  upon  which  you  must  stand. 
...  It  was  declared  by  them  that  the  taking  away 
of  the  Kingship  was  the  only  happy  way  of  returning 
to  their  own  freedom.  Their  meaning  thereby  was, 
that  the  original  of  all  just  power  was  in  the  People, 
and  was  reserved  wholly  to  them,  the  representatives. 
...  I  confess  I  was  then  exceedingly  to  seek,  in  the 
clearness  of  my  judgment,  as  to  the  trial  of  the 
King.  I  was  for  six  weeks  absent  from  my  seat  here, 
out  of  my  tenderness  of  blood  ;  yet,  all  power  being 
thus  in  the  People  originally,  I  myself  was  afterward 
in  the  business.  ...  It  was  then  necessary,  as  the 
first  act,  to  have  resort  to  the  foundation  of  all  just 
power,  and  to  create  and  establish  a  free  state,  to 
bring  the  People  out  of  bondage  from  all  pretence  of 
superiority  over  them.  It  seemed  plain  to  me  that 
all  offices  had  their  rise  from  the  People  and  that  all 
should  be  accountable  to  them." 

1  See  pp.  270,  271. 


I659-]  RICHARD'S  PARLIAMENT.  463 

Thus  explaining  his  own  position,  showing  how 
gradually  he  had  grown  into  his  Republicanism, 
Vane  now  shows  how  fixed  he  had  become  in  that 
faith,  and  how  determined  he  was  in  opposition  to 
any  other  sovereignty  than  that  of  the  People.  This 
Petition  and  Advice  upon  which  Richard's  authority 
was  to  be  based,  came  not  from  the  People,  but  from 
Oliver  and  his  Council.  "  It  is  said,"  cried  Vane, 
"  the  foundations  are  laid  upon  which  we  may  build 
a  superstructure  of  which  we  need  not  be  ashamed. 
Now,  shall  we  be  underbuilders  to  supreme  Stuart  ? 
We  have  no  need,  no  obligation  upon  us  to  return  to 
that  old  government."  In  other  words,  to  allow  ar- 
bitrary power  was  only  paving  the  way  for  a  restora- 
tion of  Charles  II.  "  Lastly,  at  the  dissolution  of  the 
Long  Parliament,  you  lost  your  possession,  not  your 
right.  The  chief  magistrate's  place  was  assumed 
without  a  law.  .  .  .  This  Petition  and  Advice  was 
.  .  .  only  a  pair  of  stairs  to  ascend  the  throne ;  a  step 
to  King,  Lords,  and  Commons.  .  .  .  You  are  in  the 
clear,  rightful  possession  of  this  government,  which 
cannot  be  disposed  of  but  by  your  consent." 

Vane's  party  were  beaten.  Richard  was  admitted 
to  a  power  based  upon  the  Petition  and  Advice,  and 
Vane  now  sought  to  limit  the  Protector's  unconstitu- 
tional authority  as  much  as  he  could.  February  17, 
he  declared,  among  other  things,  that  the  Protector 
should  be  denied  "  the  negative  voice,"  the  veto 
power.  "  I  would  have  him  possess  all  things  need- 
ful to.  his  acting  for  the  People  .  .  .  but  not  power 
to  do  them  or  you  any  hurt.  ...  It  is  therefore  ne- 
cessary so  to  bind  him  as  he  may  grow  up  with  the 


464  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1659. 

public  interest.  .  .  .  Pronounce  your  judgment,  that 
the  chief  magistrate  shall  have  no  negative  upon  the 
People  assembled   in    Parliament.     Do   this,   else    I 
shall  take  it  for  granted  that  you  will  have  no  fruit 
of  your  debate,  and  that  you  intend  nothing  for  the 
People."     February  21,  the  matter  under  debate  be- 
ing military  proceedings,  Vane's  speech  contains  such 
sentences  as  this  :  "  I  see   this  affair  all  along  man- 
aged but  to  support  the  interest  of  a  single  person, 
and  not  for  the  public  good,  for  the  People's  inter- 
est."    A  few  days  later,  in  debates  concerning  «the 
Upper   House,  which,  it  was  urged,  ought  to  stand 
also  by  the  Petition  and   Advice,  Vane's  outbursts 
are  full  of  eloquence  and  grandeur.     "  I  understand 
not   that   objection    that  we  are   sinew-shrunk   and 
manacled,  and  cannot  proceed ;  that  we  can  effect 
nothing   unless    we    transact   with    these    men.  .  .  . 
When  the  power  of  King  or  Lords  is  melted  down 
into  this  House,  it  is  in  the  People  by  the  law  of  na- 
ture and  reason.     Death  and  tract  of  time  may  melt 
it  and  bring  it  down,  but  this  shall  never  die.    Where 
is  then  the  anarchy,  the  sneaking  oligarchy?     The 
representative   body    never   dies,    whoever   die.  .  .  . 
You  set  up  a  means  to  perpetuate  an  arbitrary  power 
over  you,  to  lay  yourselves  aside  and  make  you  for- 
ever useless  —  I  may  say  odious  forever !  .  .  .  God 
is  almighty.     Will  you  not  trust  him  with  the  conse- 
quences ?     He  that  has  unsettled  a  monarchy  of  so 
many  descents  in  peaceable  times,  and  brought  you 
to  the  top  of  your  liberties,  though  he  drive  you  back 
for  a  while  into  the   wilderness,  he  will  bring  you 
back.    He  is  a  wiser  workman  than  to  reject  his  own 
work." 


1659-]  RICHARD'S  PARLIAMENT.  465 

The  effect  of  this  speech  was  very  great,  nearly 
turning  the  scale  against  the  Upper  House,  which  is 
said  to  have  been  saved  by  the  votes  of  the  govern- 
ment nominees,  the  Scotch  and  Irish  members. 
Against  these,  on  March  gth,  Vane  impetuously 
turned.  He  told  the  House  it  was  no  House  and 
"  had  been  out  of  order  ever  since  they  sat,"  be- 
cause it  contained  members  who  were  merely  govern- 
ment nominees  and  not  duly  elected.  "  A  greater 
imposition  never  was  by  a  single  person  upon  a  Par- 
liament, to  put  sixty  votes  upon  you."  On  March 
23d,  the  case  of  the  borough  of  Dartmouth  being  be- 
fore the  House,  whether  the  right  to  elect  a  member 
belonged  to  the  people  of  the  borough  or  to  the  cor- 
poration, Vane  moved  to  assert  the  right  of  the  peo- 
ple. "  A  fundamental  right  of  the  People  cannot  be 
taken  out  by  any  charter  or  corporation  whatsoever." 
When  at  last  the  little  knot  of  Republicans  were 
quite  overborne,  Vane's  terse,  vehement  denuncia- 
tions rung  again  and  again  over  the  tumult  of  debate. 
"  In  every  step  you  have  taken,  you  give  away  all. 
Do  something  that  may  make  you  appear  trustees  in- 
deed ;  and  not  in  one  moment  give  away  all  you  have 
fought  for."  April  5th,  "  Vane  spoke  very  high  as 
usual.  '  You  give  away  all  at  once,  and  may  go  home 
and  say  we  have  done  for  the  single  person's  and 
others'  turn,  and  nothing  for  the  People.' '  Vane  is 
constantly  on  his  feet,  always  the  People's  champion, 
always  clear  and  forceful  —  frequently  eloquent  and 
most  vehement,  his  outpourings  presenting  a  strange 
contrast  indeed  to  the  cloudy  sermonizing  to  which 
he  sometimes  saw  fit  to  surrender  himself.  His  most 


466  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1659. 

memorable  utterance  in  this  Parliament  seems  to 
have  been  just  at  its  close.  The  speech  as  we  have 
it *  has  been  modernized,  but  the  power  remains  in 
it.  It  was  given  while  the  House  was  refusing  to 
obey  the  Protector's  summons  to  meet  him  in  the 
House  of  Lords,  the  usher  of  the  Black  Rod  press- 
ing meantime  vainly  for  admittance. 

"  Mr.  Speaker :  Among  all  the  people  of  the  uni- 
verse, I  know  none  who  have  shown  so  much  zeal 
for  the  liberty  of  their  country  as  the  English  at  this 
time  have  done:  they  have,  by  the  help  of  Divjne 
Providence,  overcome  all  obstacles,  and  have  made 
themselves  free.  We  have  driven  away  the  heredi- 
tary tyranny  of  the  house  of  Stuart  at  the  expense 
of  much  blood  and  treasure,  in  hopes  of  enjoying 
hereditary  liberty,  after  having  shaken  off  the  yoke 
of  kingship ;  and  there  is  not  a  man  among  us  who 
could  have  imagined  that  any  person  would  be  so 
bold  as  to  dare  to  attempt  the  ravishing  from  us  that 
freedom,  which  cost  us  so  much  blood  and  so  much 
labor.  But  so  it  happens,  I  know  not  by  what  mis- 
fortune, we  are  fallen  into  the  error  of  those  who 
poisoned  the  emperor  Titus  to  make  room  for  Domi- 
tian,  who  made  away  Augustus  that  they  might  have 
Tiberius,  and  changed  Claudius  for  Nero.  I  am 
sensible  these  examples  are  foreign  from  my  subject, 
since  the  Romans  in  those  days  were  buried  in  lewd- 
ness  and  luxury,  whereas  the  People  of  England  are 
now  renowned  all  over  the  world  for  their  great  vir- 
tue and  discipline,  and  yet  suffer  an  idiot  without 
courage,  without  sense,  nay,  without  ambition,  to  have 

1  Biographia  Britannica,  art.  "Vane." 


1 659.]  RICHARD'S  PARLIAMENT.  467 

dominion  in  a  country  of  liberty !  One  could  bear  a 
little  with  Oliver  Cromwell,  though  contrary  to  his 
oath  of  fidelity  to  the  Parliament,  contrary  to  his  duty 
to  the  public,  contrary  to  the  respect  he  owed  that 
venerable  body  from  whom  he  received  his  authority, 
he  usurped  the  government.  His  merit  was  so  ex- 
traordinary, that  our  judgments,  our  passions,  might 
be  blinded  by  it.  He  made  his  way  to  empire  by  the 
most  illustrious  actions ;  he  had  under  his  command 
an  Army  that  had  made  him  a  conqueror,  and  a 
People  that  had  made  him  their  General.  But  as  for 
Richard  Cromwell  his  son,  who  is  he  ?  What  are 
his  titles  ?  We  have  seen  that  he  has  his  sword  by 
his  side;  but  did  he  ever  draw  it?  And  what  is  of 
more  importance  in  this  case,  is  he  fit  to  get  obedi- 
ence from  a  mighty  nation,  who  could  never  make  a 
footman  obey  him  ?  Yet  we  must  recognize  this 
man  as  our  King,  under  the  style  of  Protector!  a 
man  without  birth,  without  courage,  without  conduct. 
For  my  part,  I  declare,  Sir,  it  shall  never  be  said  that 
I  made  such  a  man  my  master." 

Before  dismissing  Richard's  Parliament,  we  must 
glance  at  the  figure  of  headstrong,  well-meaning 
Haselrig,  the  schoolmate  of  Vane  so  long  before  at 
Westminster,  his  helper  during  all  the  terrible  years, 
in  these  days  his  close  associate  and  fellow-champion 
in  the  fight  for  the  cause  of  the  People.  Though  a 
stout  soldier,  he,  unlike  Lambert  and  many  of  the 
Army  men,  felt  that  Parliament  ought  to  be  supreme, 
carrying  his  ideas  to  a  point,  that,  as  we  shall  pres- 
ently see,  separated  him  even  from  Vane.  His  vig- 


468  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1659. 

orous  manner  made  him  now,  as  Clarendon  hints  in 
a  passage  already  quoted,  more  influential  even  than 
Vane,  who,  perhaps,  at  this  time  fell  under  the  sus- 
picion of  being  too  much  given  to  impracticable 
dreams.  Says  "  Burton's  Diary,"  under  head  of 
March  21:  "It  happened  in  the  Council  Chamber 
that  some  hot  words  passed  from  a  member  to  Sir 
Arthur  Haselrig.  He  told  him  [Sir  Arthur]  that  all 
the  laws  made  in  the  fag-end  of  the  Long  Parliament 
were  not  of  force,  and  spoke  very  reproachfully  of 
that  Parliament ;  and  told  Sir  Arthur  that  it  was  he 
that  endeavored  to  make  himself  and  Sir  Henry 
Vane  the  great  Hogen  Mogens,  to  rule  the  Common- 
wealth. The  member  that  ruffled  Sir  Arthur  was  of 
no  great  quality.  He  [Sir  Arthur]  took  it  heavily 
out,  and  wished  he  had  been  hanged  up,  and  three  or 
four  more,  and  their  posterity  rooted  up,  rather  than 
have  acted  so  highly,  and  now  come  thus  to  be  re- 
proached. The  great  things  of  taking  away  king- 
ship, House  of  Lords,  war  with  Scotland,  Ireland, 
and  Holland,  and  public  sales  were  all  in  that  time." 
In  this  passage  we  get  a  glimpse  of  the  manner  of  the 
testy  veteran :  his  coat  of  mail  was  laid  aside,  to  be 
sure,  but  he  flared  up  into  as  great  wrath  among  the 
benches  as  if  he  were  at  the  head  of  a  troop,  with 
Cavaliers  to  confront. 

Finer,  however,  than  Haselrig  is  the  figure  of  that 
other  schoolmate  of  Vane,  Scott,  like  Haselrig  a 
soldier  right  from  the  field,1  a  man  far  better  re- 
strained, who  could  speak  in  the  noblest  fashion,  and 
had  a  soul  perfectly  undaunted.  We  have  more  than 

1  Lives  of  the  Regicides,  article  "  Scott." 


I659-]  RICHARD'S  PARLIAMENT.  469 

once  had  example  of  his  ability  of  speech :  we  shall 
hear  him  again  under  circumstances  that  show  well 
his  power  and  courage. 

Vane's  public  career  is  now  close  upon  its  end. 
After  a  few  troubled  months,  England  was  destined 
to  seek  refuge  from  anarchy  by  rushing  back  to  the 
old  order ;  but  as  yet  the  Republicans  were  not  hope- 
less, and  no  heart  was  firmer  than  that  of  Vane.  In 
Parliament,  all  went  against  them.  Richard  and  the 
Other  House  were  recognized,  their  title  being  some- 
thing different  from  the  will  of  the  People.  The 
right  of  Government  nominees,  of  the  Irish  and 
Scottish  members,  namely,  to  sit  among  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  People,  was  accorded,  and  a  tolera- 
tion favored  quite  too  narrow  to  suit  men  who  saw  in 
Voluntaryism  the  only  proper  ecclesiastical  arrange- 
ment. The  Wallingford-House  Party,  however,  that 
powerful  Army  faction,  was  also  dissatisfied  with  Par- 
liament, and  at  length  a  combination  of  the  Repub- 
licans with  Wallingford  House  brought  Richard's 
Parliament  to  an  end.  In  April  all  was  in  confusion. 
Fleetwood,  Oliver's  son-in-law,  and  Desborough,  Oli- 
ver's brother-in-law,  led  the  Army  men,  the  latter  tell- 
ing his  nephew  Richard,  that  if  he  would  dissolve 
Parliament  the  officers  would  take  care  of  him;  if  he 
refused,  they  would  do  it  without. him,  and  let  him 
shift  for  himself.  Richard  yielded  on  the  2ist,  and 
Parliament  was  dissolved.  The  matter  of  adminis- 
tration without  a  Parliament  could  perhaps  have 
been  managed,  but  there  was  great  need  of  money 
for  public  uses,  and  how  could  that  be  raised  except 
in  the  time-honored  way?  Vane  and  the  Republi- 


47O  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1659. 

cans  pressed  that  the  old  Rump  should  be  restored. 
The  "  Single  Person  "  and  the  "  Other  House,"  they 
could  not  abide ;  but  in  the  strait  what  expedient  could 
be  better  than  the  temporary  revival  of  that  purged 
Long  Parliament,  stamped  out  by  Cromwell,  but 
never  legally  dissolved?  Wallingford  House  hesi- 
tated, and  there  was  much  discussion.  Vane's  house 
at  Charing  Cross  was  a  meeting-place  where  Repub- 
licans and  Army  men  sought  to  agree.  The  "  Good 
old  Cause  "  was  a  cry  that  now  filled  the  air,  the 
people  shouting  for  a  return  to  those  days  of  the 
Commonwealth,  before  the  autocracy  had  begun,  and 
at  length  the  Republicans  prevailed.  One  hundred 
and  sixty  members  were  found  to  be  still  living  of  the 
Long  Parliament  as  it  stood  from  1648  to  1653. 
May  7,  forty-two  of  these  were  got  together,  and 
Lenthall,  after  difficulties  which  Ludlow1  relates 
amusingly,  was  prevailed  upon  to  take  his  old  place 
as  Speaker.  Henry  Marten,  who  had  been  in  jail  for 
debt,  was  brought  in  in  triumph,  and  St.  Stephen's 
Hall  became  once  more  the  home  of  a  Parliament. 
There  was  difficulty  at  once  as  to  whether  members 
secluded  by  Pride's  Purge  should  have  a  place.  At 
the  outset  of  things  indomitable  Prynne  put  in  an 
appearance,  and  we  have  mention  in  the  tracts,2  of 
what  probably  was  an  earnest  scene.  Haselrig  meet- 
ing Prynne  stormed  at  him  as  having  no  right  there, 
and  Sir  Henry  Vane  said:  "  Mr.  Prynne,  what  make 
you  here  ?  You  ought  not  to  come  into  this  House, 
being  formerly  voted  out.  I  wish  you  as  a  friend 

1  II.  p.  649.  Faithful  Scout,  June  10-17,  1659. 

3  Weekly  Post,  June  7-14,  1659.     Thomasson  Tracts,  985. 


1659.]  RICHARD'S  PARLIAMENT.  471 

quietly  to  depart  hence ;  else  some  course  will  be 
presently  taken  with  you  for  your  presumption." 
Difficulties  were,  however,  overcome ;  all  but  genu- 
ine Rumpers  were  excluded,  and  the  body  set  to 
work  "  to  endeavor  the  settlement  of  the  Common- 
wealth, without  a  Single  Person,1  Kingship,  or  House 
of  Peers."  After  discussion  with  the  Army  men,  a 
Council  was  at  length  settled  upon  to  be  the  execu- 
tive body,  to  consist  of  thirty-one  members,  of  whom 
ten  were  to  be  taken  from  outside  of  Parliament. 
Vane  now  accepted  the  command  of  a  regiment,  and 
became  one  of  a  committee  of  seven  to  nominate,  for 
approval  by  Parliament,  officers  to  be  commissioned. 
Fleetwood  became  Lieutenant  General  for  England 
and  Scotland.  May  25th,  came  Richard's  formal 
abdication.  The  army  demanded  good  treatment  for 
him  and  the  family  of  Cromwell  in  general.  Hand- 
some sums  of  money  were  bestowed  upon  Richard 
and  his  mother,  "  as  a  mark  of  the  high  esteem  this 
nation  hath  of  the  good  service  done  by  our  ever 
renowned  General."  Richard  lived  fifty-three  years 
longer,  an  amiable,  inoffensive  man,  who  was  quite 
able  to  fill  respectably  a  private  station.  It  was  his 
misfortune  to  be  forced  by  circumstances  to  appear 
in  an  exalted  place  for  which  he  had  no  fitness. 
"  Tumble-down-Dick  "  was  his  nickname  in  his  time, 
and  history  has  only  contemptuous  mention  of  him. 

In  time  the  restored  Rump  amounted  to  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty-two  in  number,  though  never  more 
than  seventy-six  were  present.  In  the  Council,  Vane 

1  By  the  Single  Person  the  Re-    cratic  Protector,  not  a  limited  Ex- 
publicans  now  understood  an  auto-    ecutive. 


472  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1659. 

was  of  course  a  leading  figure,  standing  at  once,  in- 
deed, in  the  same  prominence  which  he  had  occupied 
in  the  days  when  Blake  fought  Van  Tromp.  Really 
it  was  a  most  false  position  which  the  Republicans 
now  occupied,  and  one  can  imagine  with  what  des- 
peration their  souls  must  have  been  filled.  Sover- 
eignty of  the  People  without  privileged  class  or  Es- 
tablished Church  was  their  principle,  but  the  People 
themselves  were  determined  not  to  be  sovereign. 
Richard's  Parliament  just  dissolved,  though  it  had  the 
few  government  nominees,  was  in  vast  majority  fairly 
representative  of  the  England  of  that  day,  and  it  had 
declared  for  an  autocratic  Protector,  a  House  of 
Lords,  and  a  very  narrow  Toleration.  The  few  Re- 
publicans were  trying,  as  it  were,  to  save  the  People 
from  themselves.  With  an  inconsistency  that  almost 
raises  a  smile,  although  the  case  is  so  pathetic,  they 
had  sought  the  arbitrary  backing  of  the  Army  to 
force  freedom  on  a  People  that  did  not  desire  to  be 
free.  In  what  sense  did  the  Rump  represent  the 
England  of  1659?  Vane  had  been  elected  to  the 
Long  Parliament  in  1640,  and  sat  in  the  Rump  by 
virtue  of  that  election :  his  colleagues  had  all  been 
sent  by  the  constituencies  of  a  time  long  before. 
Holding  it,  as  they  did,  for  their  deepest  theoretical 
tenet  that  there  was  no  legitimate  power  in  the  land 
but  the  will  of  the  People,  how  could  they  feel  them- 
selves authorized  to  thwart  that  will,  which  chose  to 
be  restrained  by  masters  rather  than  to  be  free  ? 

The  world  was  not  ready  for  their  ideas ;  there 
was  nothing  to  be  done  but  at  once  to  give  up  striv- 
ing. Still,  they  did  not  give  up  as  yet,  and  civil  war 


a 

1659.]  RICHARD'S  PARLIAMENT.  473 

was  confidently  expected  between  the  Protectoratists 
and  the  restored  Rump.  The  former  might  have 
been  very  formidable.  Henry  Cromwell  in  Ireland, 
many  in  Scotland,  the  army  in  Flanders  which  had 
startled  the  continent  with  its  efficiency,  and  Mon- 
tague, the  best  of  the  admirals  since  Blake's  death, 
with  a  good  part  of  the  fleet,  —  all  these  the  Protec- 
toratists could  have  relied  upon.  For  the  Rump 
stood  the  army  at  the  centre,  commanded  by  Fleet- 
wood,  Lambert,  and  Desborough.  By  the  middle  of 
June,  however,  this  danger  was  plainly  over.  The 
foes  of  the  Rump  acquiesced,  some  of  them  sullenly, 
in  the  new  order  of  things,  though  Henry  Cromwell 
signalized  his  retirement  into  private  life  by  a  letter 
so  finely  magnanimous  and  full  of  sense,1  that  one 
wishes  heartily  the  noble  fellow  might  have  had  a 
chance  to  try  his  hand  at  helping  his  country.  The 
Rump  prevailed,  indeed ;  but  secretly  vast  numbers, 
those  high  in  place  and  the  humble,  began  to  turn 
their  thoughts  to  Charles,  in  exile  over  the  sea,  as 
the  only  source  whence  could  come  peace  and  set- 
tled government. 

The  hopelessness  of  their  position  brought  to  the 
energetic  little  conclave  no  paralysis.  The  needs  of 
the  hour  were  vigorously  met.  Fleetwood  stood  in 
chief  command,  with  Lambert  and  Monk  just  below, 
while  stout  Ludlow  was  sent  to  Ireland,  and  Lawson 
in  the  fleet  was  set  to  balance  the  influence  of  Mon- 
tague. The  Royalists  attempted  a  rising  in  August, 
which  Lambert  promptly  quelled  by  striking  a  party 
in  Cheshire.  The  Rump  were  in  high  spirits,  when, 

1  Dublin,  June  1 5.     Thurloe,  vii.  p.  683  etc. 


474  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1659. 

lo,  their  own  Army  again  refused  to  submit  kindly 
to  the  civil  power!  Not  indistinctly  in  the  future 
seemed  to  loom  the  form  of  a  new  Protector ;  and  the 
day  seemed  near  at  hand  when  in  October  the  Rump 
was  a  second  time  driven  out,  —  this  time  by  the 
sword  of  Lambert,  in  a  manner  as  peremptory  as 
that  of  Oliver  himself. 

In  these  distressed  months  change  followed  change 
with  much  confusion,  the  leading  figures  standing, 
now  together,  now  far  apart,  in  combinations  strange 
and  impossible  to  foresee.  At  this  latest  turn  Vane 
is  found  no  longer  with  the  Rump,  but  with  the  Army 
men,  a  position  one  at  first  thinks  strange  enough  for 
him,  but  it  is  not  at  all  inexplicable.  The  Rump 
now,  as  we  have  seen,  could  only  in  a  very  extraordi- 
nary sense  be  regarded  as  a  representative  of  the  na- 
tion, and  Vane,  although  until  now  the  very  soul  of 
the  Rump,  began  to  feel  that  by  working  with  the 
Army  men  a  good  result  for  the  country  could 
sooner  be  brought  about.  Already  in  the  Rump  he 
had  led  in  measures  looking  to  its  dissolution  and  the 
election  of  a  new  and  proper  Parliament.  So  in  his 
new  relations  he  continued  the  desperate  effort  to 
contrive  some  frame  which  might  be  substituted  for 
the  existing  anarchy,  by  which  England  might  re- 
main free.  Meantime  the  rag  of  a  Rump  persisted, 
guided  by  Haselrig,  Scott,  and  a  certain  cool  free- 
thinker Neville,  backed  by  a  figure  who  in  these  days 
began  to  loom  up  in  the  North  in  portentous  propor- 
tions, —  that  grim  minion  of  Oliver  in  the  subjuga- 
tion of  Scotland,  afterward  the  conqueror  of  Van 
Tromp,  "  silent  old  George,"  General  Monk.  He 


1 659.]  RICHARD'S  PARLIAMENT.  475 

now  took  sides  for  the  Rump  against  Wallingford 
House  so  emphatically,  that,  as  winter  drew  near, 
Lambert  was  sent  north  to  confront  him  with  a  pow- 
erful army.  Government  was  then  in  the  hands  of 
a  Committee  of  Safety  of  twenty-three,  soldiers  and 
civilians,  Vane  being  one.  As  the  two  armies  to- 
ward the  close  of  the  year  faced  one  another  on  the 
border,  a  sub-committee  of  the  Committee  of  Safety 
— Vane,  Whitlocke,  Fleetwood,  Ludlow,  Sal  way,  and 
Tichborne —  labored  to  fix  a  constitution  for  the  fu- 
ture. Vane's  influence  was  here  paramount,  and  it 
was  his  last  effort  for  his  country.  The  Kingship  of 
Charles  Stuart  was  of  course  set  aside  as  not  to  be 
thought  of.  The  revival  of  any  form  of  the  Protec- 
torate was  also  forbidden,  whether  the  man  should 
be  Fleetwood,  Lambert,  or  Richard  Cromwell  re- 
stored. All  were  pledged  to  a  government  without 
a  Single  Person  or  House  of  Peers.  It  was  resolved 
to  call  a  new  Parliament.  Vane  reported  "  That  the 
Supreme  Power  delegated  by  the  People  to  their 
Trustees,  ought  to  be  in  some  fundamentals  not  to 
be  dispensed  with,"  bringing  up  again  his  idea,  ex- 
pressed before  in  the  "  Healing  Question,"  of  a  Con- 
stitution. As  finally  arranged  the  outcome  was  as 
follows :  the  new  Parliament  was  to  be  of  a  single 
House  elected  by  the  People,  the  franchise  limited 
by  certain  qualifications  for  keeping  out  the  danger- 
ous. A  supreme  Council  of  State,  as  heretofore,  was 
to  be  the  executive.  In  the  matter  of  liberty  of  con- 
science Vane  was  overruled,  for  provision  was  made 
for  an  Established  Church,  accompanied  by  only  a 
limited  Toleration  in  which  no  countenance  was  to 


476  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1659. 

be  shown  to  the  more  extreme  heretics,  such  as 
Quakers.  The  plan  never  went  into  fulfilment.  The 
influence  of  Monk  grew  with  every  hour,  and  on  the 
26th  of  December  the  tough  old  Rump  was  a  sec- 
ond time  restored  and  proceeded  at  once  to  business. 
The  Committee  of  Safety  were  overthrown  by  the 
desertion  of  their  most  trusted  servants.  Their  own 
soldiers  turned  against  them,  and  quite  notably  that 
part  of  the  fleet  upon  which  they  had  most  depended. 
"  That  which  broke  the  heart  of  the  Committee  of 
Safety,"  says  Clarendon,1  "  was  the  revolt  of  their  fa- 
vorite Vice-admiral  Lawson,  ...  at  least  as  much  Re- 
publican as  any  amongst  them  ;  as  much  an  Indepen- 
dent, as  much  an  enemy  to  the  Presbyterians  and  to 
the  Covenant  as  Sir  Harry  Vane  himself:  and  a  great 
dependent  upon  Sir  Harry  Vane ;  and  one  whom 
they  had  raised  to  that  command  in  the  fleet,  that 
they  might  be  sure  to  have  the  seamen  still  at  their 
devotion.  This  man  with  his  whole  squadron  came 
into  the  river  and  declared  for  Parliament ;  which 
was  so  unexpected  that  they  would  not  believe  it, 
but  sent  Sir  Harry  Vane  and  two  others  of  great  in- 
timacy with  Lawson  to  confer  with  him." 

Lawson  was  deaf  to  the  representations  of  his  old 
friends  ;  Lambert,  thwarted,  lost  all  power  and  influ- 
ence ;  Fleetwood  became  utterly  week-kneed.  In  his 
difficulties  his  only  resource  was,  " '  Gentlemen,  let  us 
pray.'  He  would  put  himself  on  his  knees  before 
them,  and  when  some  of  his  friends  importuned  him 
to  appear  more  vigorous  in  the  charge  he  had,  .  .  . 
they  could  get  no  other  answer  from  him  than  '  that 

1  vi.  2967. 


1660.]  RICHARD'S  PARLIAMENT.  477 

God  had  spit  in  his  face  and  would  not  hear  him.'  " 1 
The  final  word  of  Vane's  public  life  was  uttered 
when  he  stood  on  the  deck  of  Lawson,  pleading  with 
the  weather-beaten  sailor  to  stand  by  the  Committee 
of  Safety.  January  9,  1660,  with  Lambert,  Desbor- 
ough,  and  others,  he  was  summoned  before  the  re- 
stored Rump,  not  more  than  forty  or  fifty  strong, 
seated  before  old  Lenthall  about  the  central  table. 
It  was  the  last  time  he  ever  appeared  in  St.  Stephen's. 
His  old  friends,  now  estranged,  Haselrig,  Scott,  Nev- 
ille, St.  John,  Henry  Marten,  sat  there  to  judge  him. 
It  was  the  Long  Parliament  still,  but  how  strangely 
changed !  What  a  part  he  had  had  in  the  strivings 
which  had  made  it  illustrious,  and  now  it  sat  in  judg- 
ment upon  him  !  There  was  no  severity,  however. 
He  was  disabled  from  sitting  longer,  and  ordered  to 
Raby  Castle  to  remain  in  private  life. 

The  Long  Parliament  went  on  to  its  last  day,  March 
1 6, 1660.  Monk  made  his  memorable  march  to  Lon- 
don, demanding  upon  his  arrival  a  more  severe  rep- 
rimand of  the  Committee  of  Safety,  particularly  of 
Vane  and  Lambert.  How  the  eyes  of  men  were 
fixed  in  those  days  upon  that  grim  figure  !  It  is  said 
he  sometimes  got  drunk,  that  he  possessed  the  Amer- 
ican accomplishment  of  tobacco  -  chewing,  and  was 
quite  untouched  by  any  religious  earnestness,  though 
he  had  fought  with  the  Ironsides  so  many  years,  and 
to  such  purpose.  He  certainly  is  no  heroic  figure, 
and  yet  probably  deserves  for  his  conduct  in  this 
crisis  no  severe  execration.  He  was  faithful  as  steel 
to  Oliver,  and  declared  he  would  have  been  as  faith- 

1  Clarendon,  vi.  2969. 


478  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1660. 

ful  to  Richard,  "  but  Richard  forsook  himself.1'  He 
believed  the  civil  power  should  be  above  the  sword, — 
a  good  principle,  acting  upon  which  he  sustained,  as 
we  have  seen  him  do,  the  Rump.  As  to  his  agency 
in  bringing  in  Charles  II,  it  was  after  all  the  only 
thing  to  be  done.  The  nation  in  an  immense  major- 
ity had  come  to  favor  it,  and  Monk  but  yielded  to  the 
stream,  providing  shrewdly,  meantime,  for  his  own 
wellbeing.  Few  indeed,  except  the  poor  Regicides, 
who  could  hope  for  no  mercy,  remained  at  last  to 

resist  the  Stuart.     The  Commonwealth  was  a  failure. 

i 

Only  upon  another  continent,  and  under  quite  differ- 
ent conditions,  could  men  of  English  stock  make  the 
idea  successful.  The  most  extraordinary  genius, 
matchless  military  prowess,  the  extremest  self-devo- 
tion had  all  been  active  for  it,  but  to  no  purpose.  In 
the  troubled  days  at  the  beginning  of  the  year  1 660, 
there  was  a  brief  revival  of  Presbyterianism.  The 
one  hundred  and  forty-three  members  secluded  by 
Pride's  Purge  in  1648,  such  of  them  as  were  left, 
flowed  in  upon  the  Rump,  reconstituting  the  Long 
Parliament  after  the  original  fashion,  and  with  an 
approach  to  the  original  numbers.  Provision  was 
made  in  this  body  for  a  new  Parliament,  which  the 
nation,  discarding  all  the  innovations  of  the  Com- 
monwealth, was  to  elect  at  once  in  the  ancient 
fashion.  How  marked  now  the  spirit  of  reaction  had 
become  appeared  from  the  fact  that  just  before  the 
dissolution  of  the  reconstituted  Long  Parliament,  on 
March  I2th,  it  was  moved  that  the  House  should 
testify  its  abhorrence  of  the  murder  of  the  late  King, 
a  proposition  which  fearless  Scott  met  by  the  fol- 


i66o.]  RICHARD'S  PARLIAMENT.  479 

lowing  outburst :  "  Though  I  know  not  where  to 
hide  my  head  at  this  time,  yet  I  dare  not  refuse  to 
own  that  not  only  my  hand  but  my  heart  also  was  in 
that  action ; "  and  he  ended  by  declaring  that  he 
should  consider  it  the  highest  honor  of  his  existence 
to  have  it  inscribed  on  his  tomb :  "  Here  lieth  one 
who  had  a  hand  and  a  heart  in  the  execution  of 
Charles  Stuart."  In  this  intrepid  cry  the  glory  of 
the  English  Commonwealth  leaped  upward  for  a 
moment,  then  died  away  forever.  The  new  Parlia- 
ment, known  as  the  Convention  Parliament,  assem- 
bled in  April.  Charles  was  joyfully  summoned,  and 
on  the  2 Qth  of  May  he  rode  into  London  upon  a 
foal  of  the  mare  which  had  borne  Fairfax  at  Naseby,1 
through  a  welcome  so  enthusiastic  that  men  seemed 
beside  themselves.  The  King  enjoyed  his  own  again, 
and  sovereignty  of  the  People  was  appointed  to  await 
the  fullness  of  time. 

1  Markham,  Life  of  Fairfax,  p.  384. 


CHAPTER    XX. 

HOW    VANE    HAS    BEEN   JUDGED. 

VANE  had  retired  to  Belleau,  but  upon  the  Resto- 
ration he  came  nearer  London,  to  his  seat  at  Hamp- 
stead,  feeling  confident  that  he  might  safely  do  ,so, 
since  the  King  had  promised  an  indemnity  to  all 
except  such  as  had  been  concerned  in  the  trial  and 
death  of  Charles  I.  Vane,  however,  it  was  felt,  was 
a  character  too  dangerous  to  go  at  large,  and  early 
in  July  he  was  arrested  and  sent  to  the  Tower.  For 
two  years  his  ultimate  fate  remained  uncertain,  dur- 
ing which  his  prison  was  several  times  changed,  be- 
coming at  length  a  lonely  castle  in  the  Scilly  islands, 
thrust  out  from  Land's  End  into  the  Atlantic.  Of 
the  men  with  whom  he  had  striven,  Scott,  Harrison, 
Hugh  Peters,  and  all  such  as  had  a  hand  in  the 
King's  execution,  when  seized,  were  put  to  death 
with  horrible  barbarities.  Haselrig  in  some  way 
escaped  the  scaffold,  as  did  also  Marten,  who  'was 
imprisoned  for  life.  Lambert,  too,  securing  the 
King's  mercy,  lived  on  for  twenty  years,  subsiding, 
curiously  enough  for  a  champion  so  masculine,  into 
an  enthusiastic  cultivator  of  flowers,  which  he  loved 
so  much  that  he  painted  them,  and  even,  if  we  may 
believe  Mrs.  Hutchinson,1  embroidered  them.  The 

1  Memoirs  of  Col.  Hutchinson,  p.  372  (Bohn  ed.) 


i66i.]  HOW  VANE  HAS  BEEN  JUDGED.  481 

right  arm  of  Oliver  at  Preston  and  Dunbar  driving 
a  needle  through  silk  as  it  outlined  the  petal  of  a 
tulip ! 

The  Parliament  of  Charles  felt  that  the  immunity 
promised  had  been  too  broad,  and  this  ominous  entry 
at  length  occurs:1  "Mr.  Thomas  moved  to  have 
somebody  die  for  the  Kingdom  as  well  as  the  King, 
and  named  Sir  Henry  Vane."  During  these  months 
of  uncertainty,  Vane  in  his  dungeon  wrapped  him- 
self in  mystical  contemplations,  for  the  most  part, 
though  now  and  then,  as  in  a  piece  called  the 
"  People's  Case  Stated,"  his  unconquerable  Repub- 
licanism found  fiery  expression.  Now  that  nothing 
remains  for  the  biographer  but  to  narrate  the  closing 
scenes,  a  fit  place  has  been  reached  for  glancing  at 
the  estimates  of  Vane,  made  by  men  of  various  ages 
and  views.  Undoubtedly,  it  is  in  place  to  give  some 
history  of  the  fame  which  one's  hero  achieves,  and 
the  reader  will  not  think  his  patience  abused  if  a  few 
pages  are  devoted  to  the  eulogies  and  the  diatribes  of 
which  Vane,  from  his  own  day  to  ours,  has  been  the 
subject. 

In  an  early  chapter  of  this  book,  abundant  illustra- 
tion was  given  of  the  widely  differing  judgments  made 
of  the  American  career  of  Vane,  both  by  contempo- 
raries and  authorities  of  later  days.  As  regards  his 
subsequent  life  the  clashing  is  no  less.  To  critics 
and  historians  he  came  to  bring  not  peace  but  a 
sword,  and  it  is  not  often  the  case  that  before  a  great 
figure  there  is  such  a  discord  of  estimate.  The 
reader  already  knows  to  some  extent  what  hand- 

1  Parliamentary  History,  iv.  108,  109. 


482  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE,  [1661. 

ling  he  received  in  his  own  day  from  Cromwellian, 
Presbyterian,  and  Stuartist.  Some  further  knowl- 
edge of  their  abuse  will  of  course  be  a  help  in  outlin- 
ing his  traits ;  his  weak  points,  naturally,  would  be 
subjects  of  attack,  and  from  the  revilings,  containing 
sometimes,  no  doubt,  grains  of  truth,  valuable  illus- 
tration may  be  obtained  of  the  limitations  by  which 
he  was  beset. 

Of  Oliverian  condemnation,  we  may  select  that  of 
the  excellent  Maidstone,  an  officer  of  the  Protector's 
household,  and  authority  for  interesting  particulars 
concerning  the  later  days  of  Cromwell.  Writing  to 
John  Winthrop,  Governor  of  Connecticut,  in  1659, 
Maidstone  says :  "  In  this  interim  [just  after  the 
march  of  Monk  from  Scotland  to  London]  the 
House  dismisses  Sir  Henry  Vane  from  sitting  in  it, 
as  a  person  that  had  not  been  constant  to  Parlia- 
mentary privileges,"  and  declares  "  that  people  were 
pleased  with  the  dishonor  put  upon  him,  he  being 
unhappy  in  lying  under  the  most  catholique  prejudice 
of  any  man  I  ever  knew." 

The  Presbyterian  view  is  given  by  Baxter : l  "  Sir 
H.  Vane  had  a  set  of  disciples  who  first  sprang  under 
him  in  New  England.  But  their  notions  were  then 
raw  and  undigested,  and  their  party  quickly  con- 
founded by  God's  providence."  Baxter's  proofs  of 
the  divine  disfavor  visited  upon  the  New  England 
Antinomians  are  certain  monstrous  births  which 
poor  Mrs.  Hutchinson  and  one  of  her  female  follow- 
ers brought  forth,  —  a  sad  and  disgusting  recital. 
It  marks  notably  the  advance  which  the  world  has 

1  Calamy's  Abridgment  of  Baxter's  Life,  pp.  98,  99. 


i66o.]  HOW   VANE  HAS  BEEN  JUDGED.  483 

made  in  two  hundred  years,  when  we  find  good  and 
intelligent  men  full  of  such  melancholy  superstition. 
Baxter  continues,  that  Vane  "  proved  in  England  an 
instrument  of  greater  calamity  to  a  sinful  people. 
.  .  .  He  was  the  principal  man  that  drove  on  the 
Parliament  with  that  vehemence  against  the  King. 
Being  of  ready  parts,  great  subtilty,  and  unwearied 
industry,  he  labored,  and  not  without  success,  to  win 
others,  in  Parliament,  city,  and  country  to  his  way." 
After  describing  his  agency  in  bringing  about  the 
condemnation  of  Strafford,  Baxter  declares :  "  To 
most  of  the  changes  that  followed,  he  was  that  within 
the  House,  that  Cromwell  was  without.  His  great 
zeal  to  inflame  the  war  and  to  cherish  the  Sectaries, 
and  especially  in  the  Army,  made  him  above  all 
men  to  be  valued  by  that  party.  His  unhappiness 
lay  in  this,  that  his  doctrines  were  so  cloudily  formed 
and  expressed  that  few  could  understand  them,  and 
therefore  he  had  but  few  true  disciples.  The  Lord 
Brooke  wras  slain  before  he  had  brought  him  to  ma- 
turity. His  obscurity  some  thought  was  designed; 
some  thought  he  did  not  understand  himself.  He 
wras  able  enough  to  speak  plain  when  he  pleased. 
The  two  things  in  which  he  had  most  success  were 
his  earnest  plea  for  universal  liberty  of  conscience, 
and  against  the  magistrates  intermeddling  with  re- 
ligion. He  taught  his  followers  to  revile  the  minis- 
try, call  them  blackcoats,  priests,  and  other  names 
savoring  of  reproach.  Cromwell  served  him  as  his 
surest  friend  as  long  as  he  could.  Cromwell  dead, 
he  joined  with  himself  Haselrig,  and  got  the  Rump 
set  up  again  and  a  Council  of  State,  got  the  power 


484  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1660. 

much  in  his  own  hands,  and  formed  a  model  for 
popular  government." 

Stuartist  writers  treat  Vane  to  liberal  showers  of 
depreciation.  Wrote  the  quaint  Anthony  a  Wood  : 
"  When  he  saw  Oliver  gape  after  monarchy  he  be- 
came his  great  opposer  and  endeavored  to  his  utmost 
to  ruin  him  by  siding  with  and  preaching  among 
Anabaptists  and  Fifth  Monarchy  men.  He  endeav- 
ored at  the  deposition  of  Richard  to  be  one  of  the 
rulers  of  Israel,  if  the  intended  match  between  his 
son  Henry  and  the  daughter  of  Maj.  Gen.  John  Lam- 
bert had  not  been  spoiled  by  the  restitution  of  the 
Rump  Parliament  by  the  generous  George  Monk."  l 
Says  the  "  Biographia  Britannica,"  somewhat  later : 
"  There  appeared  not  in  his  composition  that  wis- 
dom, that  judgment,  ...  for  which  he  is  extolled,  — 
an  unaccountable  medley  of  enthusiasm  and  incom- 
prehensible nonsense.  ...  So  much  dissimulation 
and  enthusiasm,  such  vast  parts  and  such  strong  de- 
lusions, good  sense  and  madness,  can  hardly  be  be- 
lieved to  meet  in  one  man.  He  was  successively  a 
Presbyterian,  Independent,  Anabaptist,  and  Fifth 
Monarchy  man.  In  sum,  he  was  the  Proteus  of  his 
times,  a  mere  hotch-potch  of  religion,  chief  ringleader 
of  all  the  frantic  sectarians,  of  a  turbulent  spirit  and 
working  brain,  of  a  strong  composition  of  choler  and 
melancholy,  an  inventor  not  only  of  whimseys  in  reli- 
gion, but  of  crotchets  in  the  state." 2 

To  this  may  be  added  Bishop  Burnet's  word : 
"  For  though  he  set  up  a  form  of  religion  in  a  way 
of  his  own,  yet  it  consisted  rather  in  a  withdrawing 

1  A  thence  Oxonienses,  article  "Vane."  a  Article  "Vane." 


i66o.j  HOW  VANE  HAS  BEEN  JUDGED.  485 

from  all  other  forms,  than  in  any  new  or  particular 
opinions  and  forms ;  from  which  he  and  his  party 
were  called  '  Seekers,'  and  seemed  to  wait  for  some 
new  and  clearer  manifestations.  In  these  meetings 
he  preached  and  prayed  often  himself,  but  with  so 
peculiar  a  darkness,  that  though  I  have  sometimes 
taken  pains  to  see  if  I  could  find  out  his  meaning 
in  his  works,  yet  I  could  never  reach  it.  And  since 
many  others  have  said  the  same,  it  may  be  reasonable 
to  believe  that  he  had  somewhat  that  was  a  necessary 
key  to  the  rest.  His  friends  told  me  he  leaned  to 
Origen's  notion  of  a  universal  salvation  of  all,  both 
of  devils  and  the  damned,  and  to  the  doctrine  of  pre- 
existence." 1 

Clarendon's  portrayals  of  Vane  show  all  the  skill 
of  that  matchless  painter  and  are  by  no  means  un- 
candid.  He  has  often  been  cited  in  these  pages : 
here  is  a  concluding  touch  :  — 

"  Vane  was  not  to  be  described  by  any  character 
of  religion,  in  which  he  had  swallowed  some  of  the 
fancies  of  every  sect  or  faction,  and  was  become  .  .  . 
a  man  above  ordinances,  unlimited  and  unrestrained 
by  any  rules  or  bounds  prescribed  to  other  men,  by 
reason  of  his  perfection.  He  was  a  perfect  enthusi- 
ast, and  without  doubt,  did  believe  himself  inspired, 
which  so  far  clouded  his  reason  and  understanding 
(which  in  all  matters  without  the  verge  of  religion 
was  inferior  to  that  of  few  men)  that  he  did  at  some 
time  believe  he  was  the  person  deputed  to  reign  over 
the. saints  for  a  thousand  years." 2  Elsewhere  Claren- 

1  Hist,  of  his  own  Time,  i.  228  etc.     London,  1809. 

2  Clarendon,  vi.  2957. 


486  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1660. 

don  declared  of  one  of  Vane's  books,  that  in  it  he 
"  found  nothing  of  his  usual  clearness  and  ratiocina- 
tion, in  which  he  used  much  to  excel  the  best  of  the 
company  he  kept." 

Of  the  numerous  squibs  in  which  Vane  figures 
more  or  Jess  prominently,  the  one  best  worth  not- 
ing is  "  Don  Juan  Lamberto,  a  Comical  History  of 
the  late  Times,  by  Montelion,  Knight  of  the  Or- 
acle." l  This  appeared  in  1 66 1,  said  to  be  written 
by  one  Thomas  Flatman,  and  is  a  lively  burlesque 
on  public  men  between  the  death  of  Cromwell  and 
the  Restoration,  after  the  manner  of  the  "  Seven 
Champions  of  Christendom."  Vane  plays  in  this  a 
great  part,  as  "  Sir  Vane,  the  Knight  of  the  most 
Mystical  Allegories."  In  the  sketch  of  his  career,  he, 
•as  a  child,  puts  strife  between  his  mother  and  the 
maids,  and  makes  trouble  at  Westminster  School  by 
instigating  the  boys  to  break  the  master's  neck. 
When  caught,  he  interprets  his  advice  to  the  boys 
allegorically :  it  was  not  the  master's  literal  neck,  but 
the  neck  of  his  pride  which  he  wished  to  break.  He 
Is  represented  as  cowardly,  but  through  his  cunning 
acquiring  great  influence.  Lambert  in  particular,  in 
the  burlesque,  is  under  his  sway,  to  whose  daughter, 
called  the  "  Overgrowne  Childe,"  Vane's  son  is  rep- 
resented as  about  to  be  married.  The  Council  of 
Safety,  in  which  Vane's  political  career  ended,  is 
described  in  a  note  as  a  strange  medley  of  persons 
arranged  to  gratify  his  over-refined  and  fantastic  no- 
tions, which  were  much  too  curious  for  practical  wear 
and  tear, 

1  Somers  Tracts,  vii.  104,  etc. 


i66o.]  HOW   VANE  HAS  BEEN  JUDGED.  487 

A  few  stanzas  may  be  given,  too,  from  anonymous 
diatribes  in  doggerel. 

"VANITY   OF  VANITIES,   OR    SIR    HENRY   VANE'S  PICTURE. 
(To  the  tune  of  the  Jews'  Cor  ant.) 

11  Have  you  not  seen  a  Bartholomew  baby, 
A  pageant  of  policy  as  fine  as  may  be, 
That 's  gone  to  be  shown  at  the  manor  of  Raby, 
Which  nobody  can  deny  ? 

"  There  never  was  such  a  prostitute  sight, 
That  ere  profaned  this  purer  light, 
A  hocus-pocus  juggling  Knight, 
Which  nobody  can  deny. 

"  His  cunning  state  tricks  and  oracles, 
His  lying  wonders  and  miracles, 
Are  turned  at  last  into  Parliament  shackles, 
Which  nobody  can  deny. 

"  He  sate  late  in  the  House  so  discontent, 
With  his  arms  folded  and  his  brows  bent, 
Like  Achitophel  to  the  Parliament, 
Which  nobody  can  deny. 

"  Of  this  state  and  Kingdom  he  is  the  bane  ; 
He  shall  have  the  reward  of  Judas  and  Cain, 
And  twas  he  that  overthrew  Charles  his  wain, 
Which  nobody  can  deny. 

"  Should  he  sit  where  he  did  with  his  mischievous  brain, 
Or  if  any  of  his  Councils  behind  do  remain, 
The  House  may  be  called  the  labor  in  Vain, 
Which  nobody  can  deny."1 

The  following  stanzas  are  from  a  song  belonging 
to  the  time  of  Vane's  imprisonment  in  the  Tower 
just  before  his  execution. 

1  Rump :  or  an  Exact  Collection    relating  to  the  Late  Times.     Lon- 
of  the  Choycest  Poems  and  Songs    don,  1662.     (Reprint.)     Vol.  ii.  p. 

108  etc. 


YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1660. 


"A   PSALM   OF   MERCY. 

[Usula  reads  and  all  the  Sisters  sing.] 

(To  the  tune  of"  Now  thanks  to  the  Powers  below") 

[Sing  it  in  the  Nose.] 

"  What  a  Reprobate  crew  is  here, 

Who  will  not  have  Jesus  reign  ? 
.But  send  all  our  Saints 
To  Bonds  and  Restraint, 

And  kill  'um  again  and  again  ? 
Let's  rise  in  a  holy  fear, 

And  fight  for  our  heavenly  King ; 
We  will  ha'  no  power 
But  Vane  in  the  Tower 
To  rule  us  in  anything  ! 
Come  Sister,  and  sing 
An  Hymne  to  our  King, 

Who  sitteth  on  high  Degree  ; 
The  Men  at  Whitehall, 
And  the  wicked  shall  fall, 
And  hey,  then  up  go  We. 

A  Match,  quoth  my  sister  Joyce; 
Contented,  quoth  Rachel  too : 
Quoth  Abigaile,  yea,  and  Faith,  verily, 
And  Charity,  let 't  be  so. 

"  Our  Monarchy  is  the  Fift, 

Shall  last  for  a  thousand  years; 
O'  the  wicked  on  earth, 
There  shall  be  a  dearth. 

When  Jesus  himself  appears  ! 
No  mortal  King  nor  Priest, 

No  Lord  nor  Duke  wee'l  have, 
Wee'l  grind  'um  to  Grist 
And  live  as  we  list, 
And  we  will  do  wonders  brave  ; 
Come  Dorcas  and  Cloe, 
With  Lois  and  Zoe, 

Young  Letice  and  Beterice  and  Jane, 
Phill,  Dorothy,  Maivd, 
Come  troup  it  abroad, 

For  now  is  our  time  to  reign. 


l66o.]  HOW   VANE  HAS  SEEN  JUDGED.  489 

Sa,  sa,  quoth  my  sister  Bab, 
And  kill  'um,  quoth  Margery  ; 
Spare  none,  cry's  old  Tib,  nor  quarter  say's  Lib. 
And  hey  !  for  our  Monarchy."  l 

July  25,  1660,  this  epitaph  for  Vane  was  hawked 
about  London : 

"  Here  lyes  the  body  of  Henry  Vaine  we  know 
Was  tray  tor  both  to  King  and  Country  too. 
Reproach  and  baseness  he'l  bring  to  this  grave. 
He  liv'd  like  a  tyrant  and  dy'd  like  a  knave. 

"  Now  let  all  traytors  take  a  president  by  mee 
Where  e'er  they  be, 

And  know  rebellion  is  a  dangerous  thing. 
Let  peasants  not  be  princes  but  obey  the  law, 
And  stand  in  awe 
Of  such  a  sweet  &  gracious  loving  King."  2 

So  much  for  the  contemporary  obloquy.  The 
statesmen  with  whom  he  wrestled  carp ;  scholar  and 
preacher  have  their  fling;  the  mob  of  the  street 
throws  handfuls  of  mud.  Truly,  Vane  in  his  later 
years  was,  as  Maidstone  declared,  "  unhappy  in 
lying  under  a  most  catholique  prejudice."  In  every 
age,  however,  the  prophets  are  stoned.  For  our  ears 
all  this  condemnation  is  quite  drowned  by  the  pane- 
gyrics, already  cited,  of  steadfast,  high-hearted  Lud- 
low,  and  of  the  inspired  Milton.  To  their  tributes 
we  shall  add  here  but  one  voice.  Vane's  close  depen- 
dants and  followers,  if  his  earliest  biographer  Sikes 
may  be  taken  as  a  fair  example,  are  little  worthy  of 
notice.  A  certain  Henry  Stubbe,  however,  was  a 
man. of  different  pattern  and  well  deserves  a  word. 

1  The  Rump :  an  Exact  Collection,  etc.,  vol.  ii.  193  etc. 

2  Thomasson  Tracts,  MDCCCXLIX. 


490  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1660. 

Anthony  a  Wood,  though  of  such  different  ideas, 
is  forced  to  praise  him.1  His  mother,  a  poor  seam- 
stress, managed  to  send  him,  when  a  boy  of  ten,  to 
Westminster  School,  where  Vane  became  his  patron, 
"frequently  relieved  him  with  money,  and  gave  him 
liberty  to  resort  to  his  house,  and  to  fill  that  belly 
which  otherwise  had  no  sustenance  but  what  one 
penny  could  purchase  for  his  dinner :  and  as  for  his 
breakfast,  he  had  none  except  he  got  it  by  making 
somebody's  exercise.  Soon  after  Sir  Henry  got  him 
to  be  King's  scholar."  Stubbe  grew  up  into  a  curious 
figure,  with  "  a  hot  restless  head  (his  hair  being  carrot- 
colored),  his  body  macerated  almost  to  a  skeleton  ;  " 
but  Anthony  a  Wood  speaks  with  wonder  of  his  at- 
tainments and  readiness,  although  he  was  an  out- 
spoken free-thinker.  He  was  voluble,  had  "  a  big, 
magisterial  voice,  and  mind  equal  to  it,  and  was  of  a 
high,  generous  nature.  He  scorned  riches  and  the 
adorers  of  them."  How  worthy  a  disciple  of  Vane 
Henry  Stubbe  became,  a  passage  or  two  will  show, 
taken  from  his  "  Defence  of  the  Good  Old  Cause," 
published  in  1659.  As  to  a  proper  polity  he  de- 
clares : 2  "  The  People  are  the  efficient  cause  of  mag- 
istracy, and  from  them  is  all  power  derived.  Magis- 
tracy is  not  a  paternal  right,  nor  consequence  thereof, 
either  in  Scripture  or  nature."  Here,  too,  is  a  fine 
expression  of  tolerance : 3  "I  should  have  become 
an  advocate  for  those  of  the  Episcopal  divines,  who 
...  in  their  prosperity  were  neither  rash  in  defining 
nor  forward  in  persecuting,  soberly  tender  con- 

1  Athena  Oxonienses,  iii.  1070  etc. 
8  p.  4-  8  pp.  131.  132. 


T66o.]  HOW   VANE  HAS  BEEN  JUDGED.  49! 

sciences.  ...  In  like  manner,  I  should  plead  for  such 
Catholicks  as  deny  the  Pope's  power  in  temporals,  to 
depose  magistrates,  to  dispose  of  lands,  or  the  civil 
obedience  of  subjects.  ...  I  do  profess  unto  the 
world  and  acquit  myself  of  any  way  contributing  to 
their  oppression." 

Stubbe  was  as  grateful  as  he  was  free-minded  and 
able.  When  the  influence  and  reputation  of  his 
great  friend  began  to  wane,  he  took  up  the  cudgels 
for  him  stoutly,  belaboring  especially  Baxter.1  "  My 
youth  and  other  circumstances  incapacitated  me  from 
rendering  any  great  services :  but  all  that  I  did  and 
all  that  I  wrote  had  no  other  aim ;  nor  do  I  care  how 
much  any  man  can  inodiate  my  former  writings,  so 
long  as  they  are  subservient  to  him."  He  declares 
that  no  good  man  is  so  vilified  as  Vane,  "  one  whom 
not  to  have  heard  of  is  to  be  a  stranger  in  this  land ; 
and  not  to  honor  and  to  admire  is  to  be  an  enemy  to 
all  that  is  good  and  virtuous.  One  whose  integrity, 
whose  uprightness  in  the  greatest  employments,  hath 
secured  him  from  the  effects  of  their  hatred,  in  whom 
his  sincere  piety,  zeal  for  the  public,  and  singular  wis- 
dom may  have  raised  envy  and  dread." 

A  short  space  must  suffice  to  show  how  Vane  has 
fared  at  the  hands  of  generations  later  than  his  own. 
Writers  of  Royalist  sympathies  but  echo  the  views 
of  Clarendon,  like  Hume,2  who,  while  admitting  that 
"  he  was  celebrated  for  his  Parliamentary  talents  and 
for  his  capacity  in  business,"  yet  finds  him  in  reli- 
gion and  philosophy  "  absolutely  unintelligible.  No 
traces  of  eloquence  or  even  of  common-sense  appear." 

1  Malice  Rebuked,  etc.,  p.  7.  2  vol.  vi.  p.  26. 


492  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1660. 

Republicans,  on  the  other  hand,  like  Forster,  Up- 
ham,  and  Wendell  Phillips,  praise  him  indiscrimi- 
nately, finding  him  matchless  and  without  spot,  both 
in  character  and  intellect.  For  such  an  estimate  a 
name  of  great  weight  can  be  adduced.  Sir  James 
Mackintosh  is  said  to  have  remarked  that,  "  Sir 
Henry  Vane  was  one  of  the  most  profound  minds  that 
ever  existed,  not  inferior,  perhaps,  to  Bacon.  His 
works  which  are  theological  display  astonishing 
powers.  They  are  remarkable  as  containing  the  first 
direct  assertion  of  liberty  of  conscience." ] 

Our  list  of  conflicting  judgments  may  well  con- 
clude with  the  grotesque  and  belittling  picture  of 
Carlyle. 

"  Doubtful,  I  think,  whether  without  great  effort 
you  could  have  worshipped  the  Younger  Vane.  A 
man  of  endless  virtues,  says  Dryasdust,  who  is  much 
taken  with  him,  and  of  endless  intellect ;  but  you 
must  not  very  specially  ask,  How  or  Where  ?  Vane 
was  the  Friend  of  Milton:  that  is  almost  the  only 
answer  that  can  now  be  given.  A  man,  one  rather 
finds,  of  light  fibre  this  Sir  Harry  Vane.  Grant  all 
manner  of  purity  and  elevation;  subtle  high  dis- 
course; much  intellectual  and  practical  dexterity: 
there  is  an  amiable,  devoutly  zealous,  very  pretty 
man ;  but  not  a  royal  man  ;  alas,  no !  On  the  whole 
rather  a  thin  man.  Whom  it  is  even  important  to 
keep  strictly  subaltern.  Whose  tendency  towards 
the  Abstract,  or  Temporary-Theoretic,  is  irresistible : 

1  North  American  Re-view,  Oc-     himself   and    Mackintosh  in  Lon- 
tober,  1832;  report  by  A.  H.  Ev-    don,  in  1817. 
erett  of  a   conversation   between 


1660.]  HOW  VANE  HAS  BEEN  JUDGED.  493 

whose  hold  of  the  Concrete,  in  which  lies  always  the 
Perennial,  is  by  no  means  that  of  a  giant,  or  born 
Practical  King ;  —  whose  '  astonishing  subtlety  of  in- 
tellect' conducts  him  not  to  new  clearness,  but  to  ever- 
new  abstruseness,  wheel  within  wheel,  depth  under 
depth ;  marvellous  temporary  empire  of  the  air ;  — 
wholly  vanished  now,  and  without  meaning  to  any 
mortal.  My  erudite  friend,  the  astonishing  intellect 
that  occupies  itself  in  splitting  hairs,  and  not  in  twist- 
ing some  kind  of  cordage  and  effectual  draught- 
tackle  to  take  the  road  with,  is  not  to  me  the  most 
astonishing  of  intellects !  and  if,  as  is  probable,  it  get 
into  narrow  fanaticisms ;  become  irrecognisant  of  the 
Perennial  because  not  dressed  in  the  fashionable 
Temporary ;  become  self-secluded,  atrabiliar,  and  per- 
haps shrill  -  voiced  and  spasmodic  —  what  can  you 
do  but  get  away  from  it,  with  a  prayer,  '  The  Lord 
deliver  me  from  thee ! '  I  cannot  do  with  thee.  I 
want  twisted  cordage,  steady  pulling  and  a  peaceable 
bass  tone  of  voice;  not  split  hairs,  hysterical  spas- 
modics,  and  treble !  Thou  amiable,  subtle,  elevated 
individual,  the  Lord  deliver  me  from  thee."1 

In  such  a  summary  of  opinions  as  has  been  pre- 
sented, we  have  what  may  be  called  a  history  of  the 
fame  of  Vane.  Is  it  quite  impossible  to  reach  a  satis- 
factory knowledge  of  the  man  ?  Few  names  more 
authoritative  can  be  found  in  the  whole  great  com- 
pany of  English  writers  than  several  that  have  been 
cited.  How  could  the  lack  of  unanimity  be  greater ! 
The  biographer  would  show  indeed  a  very  strange 

1  Cromwell,  vol.  ii.  p.  6. 


494  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [i65o. 

temerity  who  did  not  feel  a  grave  shrinking  of  the 
spirit  as  he  added  his  own  judgment  to  the  long 
series.  Summoning  such  wisdom  as  he  can,  the 
present  writer  faces  the  problem. 

How  one  can  ponder  the  story  which  has  been 
told  without  recognizing  in  Vane  a  statesman  of 
the  first  class,  it  is  quite  impossible  to  see.  What 
finer  political  achievement  has  the  world  ever  seen 
than  the  establishment  and  maintenance  for  so  long 
a  period  of  the  English  Commonwealth  ;  and  what 
can  be  more  plain  than  that  next  to  Cromwell,  the 
principal  agent  in  founding  and  maintaining  it  was 
Vane  ?  From  the  death  of  Pym  and  Hampden  in 
1643  through  the  ten  great  years  to  1653,  he  was  un- 
mistakably the  civil  leader,  —  as  his  enemy  Baxter 
declared,  that  in  the  State  which  Cromwell  was  in  the 
field.  These  pages  have  presented  the  great  crises 
that  signalized  the  uprising  of  the  magnificent  struc- 
ture of  the  Independents,  —  the  Solemn  League  and 
Covenant,  the  Self-Denying  Ordinance,  the  New 
Model,  the  establishment  of  Liberty  of  Conscience, 
the  proclamation  of  the  principle  of  the  Sovereignty 
of  the  People,  the  unequalled  struggle  in  which  two 
sevenths  of  England  vanquished  five-sevenths  and 
besides,  Ireland,  Scotland,  and  the  first  naval  power 
of  Europe.  If  we  except  Cromwell,  the  conspicuous 
figure  in  each  one  of  these  great  moments  is  Vane. 
Always,  he  either  originates,  or  speedily  adopts  and 
becomes  a  main  upholder.  Moving  ever  in  the  midst 
of  a  fierce  whirlwind  of  war,  though  never  with  sword 
in  hand,  yet  the  fleets  could  not  sail  nor  the  armies 
march  without  his  fiat.  What  better  qualities  do  the 


i66o.]  HOW   VANE  HAS  BEEN  JUDGED.  495 

intellect  and  character  of  man  possess  than  those 
richly  illustrated  In  his  career,  —  astuteness,  enter- 
prise, persistence,  fortitude,  intrepidity,  eloquence, 
self-abnegation  !  Like  all  things  human,  his  actions 
are  not  exempt  from  moral  blame.  His  keenness  be- 
comes sometimes  too  much  like  craft ;  but  it  is  to  cir- 
cumvent bigots  or  unearth  the  wiles  of  cheats.  Like 
all  things  human,  his  ability  was  not  infallible,  and 
his  party  sometimes  forsook  him  as  wanting  in  judg- 
ment ;  yet,  really,  it  cannot  even  now  be  said  that 
he  was  wrong  and  they  right.  Who  can  be  sure  that 
Pride's  Purge  was  not,  as  he  believed  it  to  be,  an 
outrage  upon  the  Long  Parliament  as  unnecessary 
as  it  was  arbitrary ;  that  the  execution  of  Charles  was 
not,  as  he  believed,  a  terrible  blunder ;  that  the  dis- 
solution of  the  Rump  was  not,  as  he  believed,  a  blow 
most  fatal  and  most  unnecessary  to  all  for  which  the 
Independents  had  striven  ?  As  to  practical  states- 
manship, this  book  has  been  written  to  no  purpose 
if  it  does  not  show  that  there  has  never  been  a 
higher  aptitude  in  adapting  means  to  ends  in  the 
heavy  pressure  of  a  difficult  hour.  Again,  in  the  field 
of  political  theory,  no  mind  has  ever  grasped  more 
strongly  the  principles  of  Anglo  -  Saxon  liberty  or 
outlined  more  clearly  the  foundations  upon  which 
popular  government  must  be  constructed.  If  the 
Written  Constitution  be,  in  our  American  system, 
the  one  unique  feature,  and  if  such  a  bridle  upon  the 
too  variable  popular  will  must  always  be  indispensable 
to  the  happy  issue  of  a  free  polity,  what  finer  title  to 
a  great  fame  can  be  shown  than  for  the  man  who 
made  the  first  clear  exposition  of  the  Constitutional 
Idea? 


496  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1660. 

If  we  look  at  the  relative  rank  of  Vane  among  the 
Republicans  of  his  time,  Marten,  Bradshaw,  St.  John, 
Scott,  Haselrig,  Ireton,  Ludlow,  Lambert,  the  figures 
in  the  midst  of  whom  we  have  seen  him,  plainly,  in 
that  group  he  was  allowed  precedence,  except  when 
in  desperation  before  their  dangers,  the  judgments  of 
these  men  became  clouded  ;  and  in  the  historical  per- 
spective, however  great  and  useful  they  may  have 
been,  their  forms  grow  small  in  the  presence  of  the 
young  Knight  of  Raby.  Pym  and  Hampden  died 
before  the  great  day,  —  proto-martyrs  of  freedom  ;  no 
•one  can  say  into  what  they  might  have  matured/  In 
Ireton,  too,  there  was  a  promise  that  portended  the 
very  noblest  development,  but  it  was  blasted  before 
the  unfolding. 

And  now  as  to  Vane  and  Cromwell.  There  is  no 
room  to  quarrel  with  the  estimate  which  puts  Crom- 
well, among  the  heroes  of  the  Commonwealth,  into 
a  class  by  himself.  Was  he  the  greatest  man  who 
ever  lived  ?  Perhaps.  At  any  rate,  no  man  of  his 
time  gives  such  evidence  of  marvellous  power,  and  in 
proportion  as  one  penetrates,  by  means  of  his  letters, 
speeches,  and  prayers,  into  the  secrets  of  his  spirit, 
he  feels  that  there  was  a  commensurate  nobility  of 
soul.  No  one  in  our  time  is  likely  to  adopt  the  view 
of  Forster,1  that  Vane  and  Cromwell  were  in  reality 
men  of  equal  mark,  and  that  it  was  mainly  the  ab- 
sence of  the  spur  of  personal  ambition  in  the"  former 
that  secured  to  his  yoke-fellow  a  position  in  the  eyes 
of  the  world  so  superior.  If  Cromwell  did  not  sur- 
pass all  other  characters  of  history  in  his  mastery  of 

1  Life  of  Vane,  p.  283. 


l66o.]  HOW   VANE  HAS  BEEN  JUDGED.  497 

circumstances,  he  had  no  peer  in  his  own  generation, 
at  least,  and  those  that  know  best  the  secrets  of  his 
heart  have  least  to  say  about  the  presence  there  of 
an  evil  craving  for  fame  and  power.  And  yet,  up  to 
the  year  1653,  there  is  no  absurdity  in  placing  Crom- 
well and  Vane  nearly  side  by  side.  No  doubt  the 
name  of  the  soldier  was  more  in  the  mouths  of  men. 
In  the  eyes  of  the  unthinking  mass  nothing  fasci- 
nates like  the  flash  of  a  sword ;  no  titles  to  fame 
are  so  valid  as  to  face  a  battery  or  charge  with  a 
troop.  Wise  men,  however,  knew  that  Marston  Moor 
and  Naseby  were  really  no  more  the  triumphs  of  the 
man  that  broke  Rupert  and  Sir  Marmaduke,  than  the 
man  who  brought  David  Leslie  over  the  border,  and 
engineered  the  shelving  of  the  incapables,  —  that 
even  Preston  and  Dunbar  would  have  been  impos- 
sible but  for  the  careful  contriving  at  Derby  House 
and  Whitehall.  When  Blake  at  last  arose,  almost  out- 
thundering  from  his  fleet  the  triumphs  of  Cromwell 
himself,  the  administration  behind  was  not  over- 
looked which  had  created  the  fleet  out  of  nothing, 
given  it  guns  and  men,  and  at  last  put  Blake  in  com- 
mand upon  the  quarter-deck  of  the  flagship.  How 
Cromwell  and  Vane  stood,  in  the  judgment  of  the 
best  minds  in  those  great  years,  we  may  know  best 
from  the  testimony  of  Milton,  one  of  the  ablest  of 
his  kind,  in  his  Latin  secretaryship  in  daily  contact 
with  the  men,  and  privy  to  all  that  they  achieved.  In 
the  two  memorable  sonnets,  the  spirit  of  Milton  ut- 
tered itself  almost  at  the  same  moment,  and  it  can 
scarcely  be  said  that  the  tribute  is  stronger  in  the 
one  case  than  the  other.  Indeed  it  was  not  until  the 


498  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1660. 

Protectorate  that  the  true  kingly  quality  of  Oliver 
became  manifest  to  his  generation.  We  gravely  err 
when  we  suppose  that  almost  from  the  convening  of 
the  Long  Parliament  his  was  the  dominating  figure. 
He  rose,  in  fact,  but  slowly  upon  his  age.  He  receives 
to-day  credit  for  much  that  really  should  be  ascribed 
to  humbler  names.  At  Marston  Moor,  Naseby,  and 
in  the  campaign  of  1648,  he  was  scarcely  superior  to 
Fairfax,  either  in  valor  or  conduct.1  It  was  not  until 
those  five  final  years  when,  subduing  to  his  hand  a 
multitude  of  unwilling  forces,  he  guided  England  to 
the  leadership  of  the  world,  that  he  can  be  said  to 
have  fairly  vindicated  for  himself  a  place  among  the 
supreme  men  of  all  time. 

But  while  a  high  position  is  claimed  for  Vane  as  a 
civil  leader,  it  must  be  distinctly  said  that  his  limita- 
tions were  no  less  marked  than  his  abilities.  Says 
Masson :  "  With  all  his  astuteness,  clearness  and 
shrewdness  in  business  matters,  he  carried  in  his 
head  a  mystic  metaphysics  which  he  found  it  hard  to 
express."  Even  in  his  youth  he  had  a  love  for  vapory 
theorizing.  It  was  that,  no  doubt,  that  attracted  him 
in  Massachusetts  to  Mrs.  Hutchinson,  and  he  plunged 
into  the  hair-splitting  of  the  dismal  controversy  of 
which  she  was  the  centre,  with  a  genuine  zest.  •  The 
absorptions  of  his  active  years  must  have  made 
necessary  to  him  a  very  sparing  indulgence  of  his 
visionary  tastes.  With  his  retirement,  however,  in 
1653,  his  mind  became  curiously  clouded  with  fanati- 
cal dreams,  and  anything  more  profitless  than  much 

1  Markham's  Life  of  Fairfax  contains  interesting  suggestions  on 
this  point. 


1660.]  HOW   VANE  HAS  BEEN  JUDGED.  499 

of  the  elaborate  rhapsodizing  of  his  later  life  can 
scarcely  be  imagined.  Says  Mr.  Peter  Bayne  of  the 
"  Retired  Man's  Meditations  " : 1  "In  the  forenoon, 
under  the  influence  of  strong  tea,  and  with  an  alarm 
clock  to  go  off  at  your  ear  every  twenty  minutes,  you 
might  make  something  of  it.  I  have  been  too  sig- 
nally defeated  to  try  again."  The  present  writer 
knows  of  no  stimulant  capable  of  spurring  his  own 
power  of  attention  through  a  tangle  so  perplexed. 
What  were  really  Vane's  ideas  was  a  puzzle  to  his 
contemporaries;  and  it  is  quite  useless  now  to  at- 
tempt to  outline  them.  As  one  reads,  he  encounters 
fancies  from  Antinomian  sources,  from  the  Ana- 
baptists, from  the  Fifth  Monarchy  men,  with  much 
that  we  must  think  unique.  When  liberty  of  con- 
science was  proclaimed,  there  was  a  wonderful  open- 
ing of  flood-gates,  the  human  spirit  pouring  itself  out 
with  an  impetuosity  that  made  the  stream  to  the  last 
degree  turbid.  Fancies  most  wild,  often  most  un- 
clean, floated  to  the  surface,  and  it  cannot  be  won- 
dered at,  that  when  quiet  men  contemplated  such 
a  picture  of  them  as  Edwards,  with  no  extraordinary 
exaggeration,  presented  in  the  "  Gangraena,"  they 
were  horrified,  and  felt  that  no  restraint  of  Prelate  or 
Presbyter  would  be  so  hard  to  bear  as  the  free  course 
in  society  of  such  a  torrent.  For  a  time,  the  pros- 
pect was  certainly  alarming  to  all  except  such  strong 
and  wise  minds  as  knew  that,  if  things  were  left  to 
themselves,  the  hard  sense  of  Englishmen  would  at 
length  bring  order  out  of  the  extravagance.  One  does 

1  Quoted  from  Contemporary  Rev.  in  LittelFs  Living  Age,  CXVII, 
P-338. 


500  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1660. 

not  like  to  find  Vane  touched  by  these  fanaticisms, 
but  there  is  no  doubt  that  he  was  much  overcome 
by  them.  He  appears  to  have  had  enthusiastic  fol- 
lowers, known  as  the  "  Vaneists,"  whom  he  entertained 
from  the  pulpit  with  the  vagaries  which  he  after- 
wards committed  to  paper.  These  superstitious 
maunderings  contrast  remarkably  enough  with  the 
terse  outbursts  of  the  great  Republican  leader  of 
Richard's  Parliament  and  the  magnificent  sentences 
in  parts  of  the  "  Healing  Question,"  uttered  at  the 
same  period.  How  could  two  men  so  different,  be 
wrapped  in  the  same  skin,  —  one  possessed  of  the 
clearest-eyed  discernment,  the  readiest  possible  hand 
for  action,  a  capacity  for  expression  quite  unsur- 
passed, —  the  other  moon-struck  even  in  an  age  of 
simpletons,  a  coryphaeus  in  the  dance  of  cranks ! 

Such  inconsistency  as  that  of  Vane  is,  however, 
by  no  means  without  parallel.  As  we  study  anti- 
quity, we  are  often  called  upon  to  wonder  how  strong- 
hearted  heroes  in  the  midst  of  great  achievements 
can  allow  their  spirits  to  be  suddenly  overcast  with 
childish  awe,  as  they  turn  aside  because  the  sacred 
chickens  refuse  their  corn,  or  tremble  with  fear  be- 
cause it  thunders  on  the  left.  In  our  own  day  think 
of  a  Faraday  surrendering  himself  in  the  field  of  sci- 
ence only  to  star-eyed  guidance,  but  in  the  field  of  re- 
ligion to  that  of  the  purblind  Robert  Sandeman  !  In 
the  days  of  the  Commonwealth  sense  and  nonsense 
were  often  bedfellows  after  the  strangest  fashion. 
Harrison  could  in  one  hour  debate  with  cool  political 
wisdom  the  settlement  of  the  State,  or  guide  the  move- 
ments of  a  host  like  a  consummate  commander;  and 


l66o.J  HOW   VANE  HAS  BEEN  JUDGED.  50! 

in  the  next  rave  to  a  congregation,  wild  as  a  Pytho- 
ness upon  her  tripod,  of  the  immediate  breaking  by  the 
seven  angels  of  the  vials  of  wrath  over  the  earth,  the 
gathering  of  the  whole  world  to  battle  in  the  place 
called  Armageddon,  the  going  forth  amid  lightning 
and  earthquakes  of  Death  upon  the  pale  horse, — 
the  instant  and  literal  accomplishment  of  the  terrors 
threatened  to  John  in  Patmos.  As  to  the  Lord  Gen- 
eral himself,  indeed,  if  we  imagine  a  modern  auditor 
transported  to  his  presence, —  hearing  him  harangue 
the  Ironsides  from  the  saddle  on  the  march  to  Pres- 
ton, or  improve  the  occasion  at  some  prayer-meeting 
of  the  Council  of  officers  at  Whitehall,  —  it  would 
no  doubt  seem  rather  the  outburst  of  a  Bedlamite, 
than  of  the  matchless  master  of  circumstances. — 
There  were  rationalists  and  agnostics  in  those  days  as 
cool  and  critical  as  in  our  own.  Selden  treated  the 
religious  heats  and  passions  of  the  hour  with  refined 
mocking.  Harry  Marten  made  light  of  them  almost 
with  the  frankness  of  a  Robert  G.  Ingersoll,  and 
with  more  good -nature.  In  the  later  days  of  the 
Commonwealth  the  Republican  Neville  becomes 
prominent,  a  free-thinker  so  far  advanced  as  not  to 
hesitate  at  the  assertion  that  he  found  more  to  help 
him  in  Cicero  than  in  the  Bible. 

With  men  of  the  latter  type,  Vane  in  his  religious 
phase  had  no  part,  but  he  entertained  toward  them 
a  perfect  tolerance.  With  his  cloudiness  and  nar- 
rowness, he  managed  to  reconcile  in  some  way  that 
noble  candor  which  allowed  to  each  conscience  the 
right  to  decide  for  itself.  When  Neville,  confessing 
himself  more  Pagan  than  Christian,  was  accused  of 


502  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1660. 

blasphemy  in  the  House,  he  found  in  Vane  a  de- 
fender.1 "  When  they  could  accuse  our  Saviour  of 
nothing  else,"  he  exclaimed,  "  they  brought  in  blas- 
phemy," and  he  made  light  of  the  charge.  He  had, 
thought  Vane,  a  right  to  his  faith  or  no-faith,  and 
should  be  protected  in  it.  Just  so  he  was  ready  to 
protect  Catholic,  Unitarian,  and  Jew. 

Strangely  incongruous  he  was,  and  yet  by  no  means 
in  a  way  without  parallel,  —  in  his  political  ideas 
identical  with  the  most  enlightened  modern  states- 
men of  England  or  America,  —  in  his  religious 
thought  overhung  by  a  strange  mist  of  mediaevalism, 
—  in  one  sphere  a  man  of  the  broadest  practical 
sense,  of  the  highest  executive  ability,  of  the  most 
far-reaching  intellectual  grasp,  —  in  another  an  ex- 
pounder of  vague  and  unreasonable  dreams.  Let  it 
not  be  thought,  however,  that  his  writings  in  religion 
and  philosophy  are  quite  without  wisdom.  The 
"  Meditations  concerning  Life,  penned  in  his  Prison 
State,"  is  noteworthy,  in  which  the  idea  of  forgive- 
ness of  enemies  and  the  patient  bearing  of  ills,  is 
developed  clearly,  and  in  a  spirit  finely  Christian. 

MEDITATIONS   CONCERNING  MAN'S   LIFE,   ETC. 

"  In  reference  to  our  enemies  we  must  take  care, 
not  to  meditate  revenge.  Yet  in  some  sense,  we  may 
account  it  an  excellent  and  worthy  revenge,  to  slight 
the  work  they  can  do,  whereby  we  take  away  the 
pleasure  which  they  think  to  have  in  vexing  us. 
We  must,  in  suffering  injuries,  have  respect  to  our- 
selves and  to  him  that  offends  us.  Touching 
ourselves,  we  must  take  heed  that  we  do  nothing 

1  Burton's  Diary,  Feb.  16,  1659. 


1660.]  HOW   VANE  HAS  BEEN  JUDGED.  503 

unworthy  or  unbecoming  us,  that  may  give  the 
enemy  advantage  against  us.  As  to  him  that  offends 
us,  we  should  be  wise  as  serpents  to  ware  his  assault, 
till  our  hour  is  come,  and  we  can  gain  and  conquer 
by  dying. 

"It  is  a  weakness  of  mind  not  to  know  how  to  con- 
temn an  offence.  An  honest  man  is  not  subject  to 
injury.  He  is  inviolable  and  unmoveable.  Invio- 
lable, not  so  much  that  he  can  not  be  beaten ;  but 
that  being  beaten,  he  doth  neither  receive  wound 
nor  hurt.  We  can  receive  no  evil  but  of  ourselves. 
We  may  therefore  always  say  with  Socrates,  '  My 
enemies  may  put  me  to  death,  but  they  shall  never 
enforce  me  to  do  that  which  I  ought  not.' 

"  Evils  themselves,  through  the  wise  overruling 
Providence  of  God,  have  good  fruits  and  effects. 
The  World  would  be  extinguished  and  perish,  if  it 
were  not  changed,  shaken  and  discomposed,  by  a 
variety  and  an  interchangeable  course  of  things, 
wisely  ordered  by  God,  the  best  Physician.  This 
ought  to  satisfy  every  honest  and  reasonable  mind, 
and  make  it  joyfully  submit  to  the  worst  of  changes 
how  strange  and  wonderful  soever  they  may  seem, 
since  they  are  the  works  of  God  and  Nature,  and  that 
which  is  a  loss  in  one  respect,  is  a  gain  in  another. 

"  Let  not  a  wise  man  disdain  or  ill  resent  anything 
that  shall  happen  to  him.  Let  him  know  those 
things  that  seem  hurtful  to  him  in  particular,  pertain 
to  the  preservation  of  the  whole  Universe,  and  are  of 
the  nature  of  those  things  that  finish  and  fill  up  the 
course  and  office  of  this  World."  : 

1  Sikes,  Life  of  Vane,  p.  125. 


504  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1660. 

In  the  "  People's  Case  Stated,"  Vane  gives,  in  a 
somewhat  tangled  exposition,  a  philosophy  of  human 
nature  and  of  politics,  which  is  exceedingly  noble. 
At  this  time,  at  any  rate,  his  thought  is  not  at  all 
Calvinistic.  If  patiently  read,  the  passage  will  be 
found  to  contain  an  idea  which,  if  accepted,  justifies 
perfectly  the  Republican  polity,  —  that  trust  in  the 
"  plain  People  "  in  which  Abraham  Lincoln  believed, 
but  no  more  fully  than  the  high-born  master  of  Raby. 

"  Every  man  hath  that  in  himself  which  by  God^is 
made  a  proper  and  competent  judge ;  for  as  to  all 
sin  against  God  and  the  righteousness  of  his  law,  the 
light  of  conscience,  that  is  to  say,  the  work  of  the 
law  in  and  upon  the  mind  or  inward  sense,  and  in 
conjunction  with  it,  doth  lighten  every  one  that 
cometh  into  the  world,  accusing  or  excusing,  if  it  be 
but  hearkened  unto  and  kept  awake.  And  for  all 
such  actings  as  tend  to  the  ruin  and  destruction  of 
man  in  his  outward  and  bodily  concerns,  and  as  he  is 
the  object  of  magistratical  power  and  jurisdiction, 
every  man  hath  a  judgment  of  common  sense,  or  a 
way  of  discerning  and  being  sensible  thereof.  .  ,  . 
This  inferior  judgment  in  man,  when  it  is  conjoined 
with  and  confirmed  by  the  judgment  of  his  superior 
part,  is  that  which  we  call  rational,  or  the  dictates  of 
right  reason,  that  man  hath  a  natural  right  to  adhere 
unto,  as  the  ordinary  certain  rule  which  is  given  him 
by  God  to  walk  by,  and  against  which  he  ought  not 
to  be  compelled,  or  be  forced  to  depart  from  it  by 
the  mere  will  and  power  of  another,  without  better 
evidence :  that  is,  a  higher,  a  greater,  or  more  certain 


1660.]  HOW   VANE  HAS  BEEN  JUDGED.  505 

way  of  discerning.  This,  therefore,  in  scripture,  is 
called  mans  judgment  or  mans  day  in  distinction  from 
the  Lord's  judgment  and  the  Lord's  day  ;  and  this  is 
that  in  every  individual  man,  which  in  the  collective 
body  of  the  People,  and  meeting  of  head  and  mem- 
bers in  Parliament,  is  called  the  supreme  authority, 
and  is  the  public  reason  and  will  of  the  whole  king- 
dom, the  going  against  which  is  in  nature  as  well  as 
by  the  law  of  nations,  an  offence  of  the  highest  rank 
among  men ;  for  it  must  be  presumed  that  there  is 
more  of  the  wisdom  and  will  of  God  in  that  public 
suffrage  of  the  whole  nation,  than  of  any  private  per- 
son or  lesser  collective  body  whatsoever.  .  .  .  For 
man  is  made  in  God's  image,  or  in  a  likeness,  in  judg- 
ment and  will  unto  God  himself,  according  to  the 
measure  that  in  his  nature  he  is  proportioned  and 
made  capable  to  be  the  receiver  and  bearer  thereof. 
Therefore  it  is,  that  the  resisting  and  opposing  either 
of  that  judgment  or  will  which  is  in  itself  supreme, 
and  the  law  to  all  others,  is  against  the  duty  of  any 
member  of  that  society,  as  well  as  it  is  against  the 
duty  of  the  body  of  the  whole  society  to  oppose  its 
judgment  and  will  to  that  of  the  supreme  lawgiver, 
their  highest  sovereign,  God  himself.  .  .  . 

"  That  common  consent,  lawfully  and  rightfully 
given  by  the  body  of  a  nation,  and  intrusted  with  dele- 
gates of  their  own  free  choice,  to  be  exercised  by  them 
as  their  representatives  (as  well  for  the  welfare  and 
good  of  the  body  that  trusts  them,  as  to  the  honour 
and  well-pleasing  of  God,  the  supreme  Legislator), 
is  the  principle  and  means,  warranted  by  the  law  of 
nature  and  nations,  to  give  constitution  and  admis- 


506  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1660. 

sion  to  the  exercise  of  government  and  supreme  au- 
thority over  them  and  among  them  :  agreeable  here- 
unto, we  are  to  suppose  that  our  ancestors  in  this 
kingdom  did  proceed,  when  they  constituted  the 
government  thereof,  in  that  form  of  administration 
which  hath  been  derived  to  us  in  the  course  and 
channel  of  our  customs  and  laws  ;  among  which,  the 
law  and  customs  in  and  of  the  Parliaments  are  to  be 
accounted  as  chief." 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

THE    TRIAL   BEFORE   THE    COURT   OF   KING'S    BENCH. 

As  the  second  year  of  Vane's  imprisonment  drew 
toward  a  close,  he  sent,  March  7,  1662,  a  letter  from, 
his  dungeon  in  the  Scilly  Islands  to  his  wife,  the 
sentences  of  which,  full  of  affection  and  trustful 
piety,  appeal  far  more  powerfully  to  the  heart  than 
many  of  his  more  elaborate  writings. 

"  My  dear  Heart,  The  wind  yet  continuing  con- 
trary, makes  me  desire  to  be  as  much  in  converse 
with  thee  as  the  providence  of  God  will  permit.  .  .  . 
It  is  no  small  satisfaction  to  me  in  these  sharp  trials, 
to  experience  the  truth  of  those  Christian  principles, 
which  God,  of  his  grace,  hath  afforded  you  and  me 
the  knowledge,  and  imboldened  us  to  make  the  pro- 
fession of.  Have  faith  and  hope,  my  dearest.  .  .  . 
This  dark  night  and  black  shade  which  God  hath 
drawn  over  his  work  in  the  midst  of  us,  may  be,  for 
aught  we  know,  the  ground  color  to  some  beautiful 
piece  that  he  is  now  exposing  to  the  light.  .  .  .  Out 
of  love  and  faithfulness  I  am  made  to  drink  of  this 
bitter  cup  to  help  forward  that  necessary  work  in  me 
wherein  consists  the  glorious  liberty  of  the  sons  of 
God." 

Contemplating   the   probable   confiscation  of  his 


508  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1662. 

means,  he  says :  "  The  Lord  grant  me  and  mine  to 
be  content,  if  he  deny  us  to  live  of  our  own,  and  will 
bring  us  to  the  daily  bread  of  his  finding,  which  he 
will  have  us  wait  for,  fresh  and  fresh  from  his  own 
table,  without  knowing  of  it  beforehand.  Peradven- 
ture  there  is  a  greater  sweetness  and  blessing  in  such 
a  condition  than  we  can  imagine  until  we  have  tried 
it  ...  They  that  press  so  earnestly  to  carry  on  my 
trial,  do  little  know  what  presence  of  God  may  be 
afforded  me  in  it.  ...  Nor  can  they,  I  am  sure,  im- 
agine how  much  I  desire  to  be  dissolved  and  be  with 
Christ,  which  of  all  things  that  can  befall  me  I  ac- 
count best  of  all.  ...  If  the  storm  against  us  grow 
higher  and  higher,  so  as  to  strip  us  of  all  we  have, 
the  earth  is  still  the  Lord's  and  the  fullness  thereof. 
...  I  know  nothing  that  remains  to  us  but,  like  a 
tossed  ship  in  a  storm,  to  let  ourselves  be  tossed  and 
driven  by  the  winds,  till  He  that  can  make  these 
storms  to  cease  and  bring  us  into  a  safe  haven,  do 
work  out  our  deliverance  for  us.  I  doubt  not  but  you 
will  accordingly  endeavor  to  prepare  for  the  worst." 

Shortly  after,  he  was  removed  to  the  Tower  of 
London,  and  on  June  2d  arraigned  as  a  "  false  traitor," 
before  the  Court  of  King's  Bench,  in  Westminster 
Hall.  He  stood  without  counsel,  opposing  the  attor- 
ney-general, the  solicitor-general,  and  four  other  law- 
yers ;  among  these  were  Glyn  and  Maynard,  who  had 
also  taken  part  against  Strafford.  As  strong-  Pres- 
byterians, these  men  had  figured  in  the  Long  Parlia- 
ment against  Charles  I ;  but  in  the  changes  they  had 
come  to  stand  again  upon  the  side  of  the  Stuart, 
showing  a  hardness  that  shocked  even  the  Cavaliers, 


1 662.]    BEFORE   THE  COURT  OF  KING'S  BENCH.      509 

and  which  has  earned  for  them  a  Hudibrastic  immor- 
tality :  — 

"  Did  not  the  learned  Glyn  and  Maynard 
To  make  good  subjects  traitors  strain  hard  ?  " 

Vane  came  forth  from  the  Tower  among  his  ac- 
cusers like  Samson  from  his  dungeon  among  the 
Philistines.  His  bodily  strength  was  not  touched  by 
his  incarceration,  nor  had  his  mind  become  wasted, 
although  busy  to  such  an  extent  with  incoherent 
dreams.  His  ability  was  never  more  memorably  ex- 
erted than  during  his  trial.  There  were  times  when 
he  seemed  to  have  within  his  grasp  the  very  pillars  of 
the  Stuartist  power,  shaking  them  almost  to  their 
fall.  No  wonder  that  Charles  and  his  counsellors 
felt  he  was  too  dangerous  to  be  allowed  to  live. 

A  profound  impression  of  the  significance  of  the 
occasion  weighed  upon  his  mind.  In  the  course  of 
the  trial  he  declared :  — 

"  In  general,  I  do  affirm  of  this  case,  that  it  is  so 
comprehensive  as  to  take  in  the  very  interests  of 
heaven  and  earth:  ist,  of  God,  the  universal  Sover- 
eign and  King  of  Kings,  2d,  that  of  earthly  sover- 
eigns, who  are  God's  vice-gerents :  as  also  the  inter- 
ests of  all  mankind,  that  stand  in  the  relation  of 
subject  to  the  one  or  the  both  those  sorts  of  sover- 
eigns. This  in  general.  More  particularly :  within 
the  bowels  of  this  case  is  that  cause  of  God  that 
hath  stated  itself  in  the  late  differences  and  wars 
that  have  happened  and  arisen  within  these  three 
nations,  and  have  been  of  more  than  twenty  years' 
continuance."  l 

1  State  Trials  (Howell),  vi.  180.  ment  writ  by  the  prisoner  but  re- 
"  Reasons  for  an  Arrest  of  Judg-  fused  to  be  heard  by  the  Court." 


510  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1662. 

He  cared  little  for  his  own  life,  but  in  him  the 
great  cause,  whether  the  People  had  a  right  to  gov- 
ern themselves,  was  set  up  for  judgment,  and  he 
exerted  all  his  powers.  Sometimes  he  urged  before 
his  judges  the  eternal  principles  of  liberty ;  some- 
times with  all  his  old  subtlety  he  plagued  them  with 
technical  objections  ;  sometimes,  when  they  were  in- 
solent, he  overwhelmed  them  with  his  authoritative 
personality,  prisoner  though  he  was,  until  the  court 
seemed  to  shrink  in  the  presence  of  the  giant  who 
had  come  down  from  the  Commonwealth  among  the 
dwarfs  of  the  Restoration. 

June  2d,  at  the  arraignment,  the  indictment  was 
read,  which  charged  him  with  "  traitorously  imagining 
and  intending  the  death  "  of  Charles  II,  and  "  trying 
to  overturn  the  ancient  government  of  England." 

In  answer  to  the  indictment,  he  urged  that  as  the 
offences  charged  in  it  were  committed  by  him  as  a 
member  of  Parliament,  or  as  acting  in  obedience  to 
it,  no  inferior  court,  but  only  Parliament  itself,  ac- 
cording to  long-established  usage,  was  qualified  to  sit 
in  judgment  upon  him.  He,  therefore,  objected  to 
pleading  either  guilty  or  not  guilty,  as  that  would 
be  recognizing  the  jurisdiction  of  the  tribunal.  "  It 
may  be  better,"  he  said,  "  to  be  immediately  -  de- 
stroyed by  special  command,  without  any  form  of  law. 
It  is  very  visible  beforehand  that  all  possible  means 
of  defence  are  taken  and  withheld.  Far  be  it  from 
me  to  have  knowingly,  maliciously,  or  wittingly 
offended  the  law,  rightly  understood  and  asserted ; 
much  less  to  have  done  anything  that  is  morally  evil. 
.  .  .  If  I  can  judge  anything  of  my  own  case,  the 


1662.]     BEFORE   THE   COURT  OF  KING'S  BENCH.     51! 

true  reason  of  the  present  difficulties  and  straits  I 
am  in  is  because  I  have  desired  to  walk  by  a  just 
and  righteous  rule  in  all  my  actions,  and  not  to  serve 
the  lusts  and  passions  of  men,  but  rather  to  die  than 
wittingly  and  deliberately  to  sin  against  God  and 
transgress  his  holy  laws,  or  prefer  my  own  private  in- 
terest before  the  good  of  the  whole  community  I  re- 
late unto,  in  the  Kingdom  where  the  lot  of  my  resi- 
dence is  cast." 

Vane  said  much  more  than  this  in  a  strain  of  similar 
exaltation.  After  much  urging,  and  upon  the  promise 
that  counsel  should  be  assigned  to  him,  "he  not 
being  versed  in  the  punctilios  of  law  writings  and 
pleas,"  he  at  length  was  persuaded  to  plead  not 
guilty,  upon  which  he  was  sent  back  to  the  Tower, 
his  trial  beginning  in  due  form  four  days  later. 

Upon  Vane's  claiming  the  benefit  of  counsel,  the 
judges  told  him  "  They  would  be  his  counsel."  He 
had  to  fight  his  battle  alone.  The  attorney-general, 
Sir  Geoffrey  Palmer,  began  by  specifying  the  overt 
acts  upon  which  the  indictment  was  based.  "  Though 
he  be  chargeable  for  any  crime  of  treason  since  the 
beginning  of  the  late  war,  yet  we  shall  confine  the 
facts  of  which  we  charge  him  to  the  reign  of  his  pres- 
ent Majesty."  The  counts  were  few  and  for  the  most 
part  incontrovertible.  The  first  was  that  on  the  day 
of  the  execution  of  Charles  I,  his  hand  and  seal  were 
found  to  a  warrant  to  officers  of  the  Navy  about  a 
summer's  guard  for  the  Narrow  Seas.  Vane  in  his 
defence  solemnly  avowed  that  he  was  at  this  time 
completely  out  of  public  life.  Two  witnesses,  how- 
ever, swore  to  Vane's  hand.  Entries  in  the  Com- 


512  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1662. 

mons  Journals  were  then  cited  recording  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  Council  of  State,  and  its  character,  — 
that  it  was  to  suppress  the  attempts  of  any  one  pre- 
tending to  the  kingship,  whether  the  son  of  the  late 
King  or  any  one  else.  Palmer  argued  that  an  inten- 
tion was  implied  to  destroy,  if  possible,  the  person  of 
the  young  Charles,  and  do  away  with  kingly  govern- 
ment. The  Journals  were  further  cited  to  show  the 
appointment  of  Vane  upon  this  Council,  February 
14,  1649,  that  he  had  accepted  and  acted  upon  the 
instructions  laid  down  for  it,  and  that  he  had  also 
been  Treasurer  of  the  Navy.  It  was  proved  that  he 
had  once  been  president  of  the  Council,  and  that  he 
was  active  on  the  Committee  for  Scotch  and  Irish 
affairs,  where  he  was  often  in  the  chair.  As  to 
Vane's  later  career,  it  was  proved  that  he  had  be- 
longed to  the  Committee  of  Safety  of  1659,  and  in 
that  office  maintained  the  Commonwealth,  which  was 
keeping  out  the  King:  moreover,  that  he  had  pro- 
posed a  new  model  of  government  (his  scheme,  here- 
tofore given,1  was  cited)  of  which  one  feature  was  a 
resolution  declaring  it  destructive  to  the  People's 
liberty  to  admit  any  King  into  power.  It  was  proved, 
moreover,  that  he  had  been  at  the  head  of  a  com- 
pany of  soldiers  in  Southwark. 

Excepting  the  first  allegation,  implying  that  Vane 
had  a  part  in  the  government  on  the  day  of  the  death 
of  Charles  I,  there  was  nothing  in  the  list  of  charges 
not  strictly  true ;  they  were  acts  treasonable  in  Roy- 
alist eyes,  but  heroic  to  the  Republicans.  Vane  de- 
manded delay,  that  he  might  summon  witnesses  on 
1  See  page  475. 


1 662.]    BEFORE   THE   COURT  OF  KING'S  BENCH.     513 

his  part,  and  prepare  for  a  defence.  This  was  denied 
him,  and  he  was  at  once  required  to  speak.  He 
afterwards  wrote  out  in  prison  the  substance  of  what 
he  said,  from  which  the  following  abridged  account 
is  taken :  — 

"  The  causes  that  did  happen  to  move  his  late 
Majesty  to  depart  from  his  Parliament  and  continue 
for  many  years,  not  only  at  a  distance  and  in  a  dis- 
junction from  them,  but  at  last  in  a  declared  posture 
of  enmity  and  war  against  them,  are  so  well  known 
and  fully  stated  in  print,  not  to  say  written  in  char- 
acters of  blood  on  both  parts,  that  I  shall  only  men- 
tion it  and  refer  to  it.  This  matter  was  not  done  in 
a  corner.  The  appeals  were  solemn,  and  the  deci- 
sion, by  the  sword,  was  given  by  that  God  who,  being 
the  judge  of  the  whole  world,  does  right,  and  cannot 
do  otherwise.  By  occasion  of  these  unhappy  differ- 
ences, most  great  and  unusual  changes,  like  an  irre- 
sistible torrent,  did  break  in  upon  us,  not  only  to  the 
disjointing  that  Parliamentary  assembly  among  them- 
selves, but  to  the  creating  such  formed  divisions 
among  the  people,  and  to  the  producing  such  a  gen- 
eral state  of  disorder,  that  hardly  any  were  able  to 
know  their  duty,  and  with  certainty  to  discern  who 
were  to  command  and  who  to  obey.  All  things 
seemed  to  be  reduced,  and  in  a  manner  resolved  into 
their  first  elements  and  principles. 

"  Nevertheless,  as  dark  as  such  a  state  may  be,  the 
law  of  England  leaves  not  the  subjects  thereof,  as  I 
humbly  conceive,  without  some  glimpses  of  direction 
what  to  do,  in  the  cleaving  to  and  pursuing  of  which, 


5  14  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1662. 

I  hope  I  shall  not  be  accounted  nor  judged  an 
offender;  or  if  I  am,  I  shall  have  the  comfort  and 
peace  of  my  actions  to  support  me  in  and  under  my 
greatest  sufferings." 

Vane  here  entered  upon  a  learned  discussion,  citing 
Hooker,  Selden,  Coke,  Bracton,  Fleta,  Lambard,  and 
especially  Fortescue,  the  Lancastrian  lawyer.  "  The 
law  of  nature,"  he  declared  at  last,  "is  part  of  the 
law  of  England.  This  is  the  law  that  is  before  any 
judicial  or  municipal  law,  as  the  root  and  founjtain 
whence  these  and  all  governments  under  God  and 
law  do  flow.  This  agrees  with  that  maxim,  Salus 
populi  suprema  lex:  that  being  made  due  and  binding 
by  this  law  which  to  the  community,  declaring  their 
mind  by  their  own  free  chosen  delegates,  appears 
profitable  and  necessary  for  the  preservation  and 
good  of  the  whole  society."  He  declared  emphati- 
cally that  Pride's  Purge  "  made  him  forbear  to  come 
to  the  Parliament  for  ten  weeks,  from  December  3d 
until  near  the  middle  of  the  following  February,  or  to 
meddle  in  any  public  transactions."  Here  he  denied 
the  first  count  of  the  indictment.  As  regards  the 
other  counts,  they  could  not  be  denied,  but  Vane 
proudly  claimed  that  he  had  acted  in  all  things  either 
in  Parliament,  or  as  the  servant  of  Parliament,  and 
was  amenable  to  no  tribunal  but  Parliament. 

"  Nor  was  it  for  any  private  or  gainful  ends  to  profit 
myself  or  enrich  my  relations.  This  may  appear 
as  well  by  the  great  debt  I  have  contracted,  as  by  the 
destitute  condition  my  many  children  are  in,  as  to 
any  provision  made  for  them ;  and  I  do  publicly 


1662.]    BEFORE   THE   COURT  OF  KING'S  BENCH.     515 

challenge  all  persons  whatsoever  that  can  give  infor- 
mation of  any  bribes  or  covert  ways  used  by  me, 
during  the  whole  time  of  my  public  acting." 

As  to  the  usurpation  of  Cromwell,  which  he  calls 
"  plucking  up  the  liberties  of  the  Kingdom  by  the  very 
roots,"  he  declares  that  "  he  opposed  it,  from  the  be- 
ginning to  the  end,  to  that  degree  of  suffering,  and 
with  that  constancy,  that  well  near  had  cost  me  not 
only  the  loss  of  my  estate,  but  of  my  very  life,  if  he 
might  have  had  his  will,  which  a  higher  than  he 
hindered ;  yet  I  did  remain  a  prisoner,  under  great 
hardship,  four  months,  in  an  island,  by  his  orders." 

As  to  appearing  in  arms  at  any  time,  Vane  showed 
that  the  business  of  his  colonelcy  in  1659  was  simply 
"  honorary  and  titular,"  and  that  he  had  never  acted 
in  other  than  a  civil  capacity. 

The  defence  of  Vane  has  been  thought  to  contain 
clear  evidence  that  he  was  not  a  Republican.1  He 
declares  his  desire,  "  to  preserve  the  ancient,  well- 
constituted  government  of  England  on  its  basis  and 
righteous  foundation.  I  did  count  it  the  most  likely 
means  for  the  effecting  of  this  to  preserve  it  at  least 
in  its  root,  whatever  changes  and  alterations  it  might 
be  exposed  unto  in  the  branches.  When  by  the  in- 
ordinate fire  of  the  times,  two  of  the  three  estates 
have  for  the  season  been  melted  down,  they  did  but 
retire  into  their  root,  and  were  not  hereby  in  their 
right  destroyed,  but  rather  preserved,  though  as  to 
their  exercise  laid  for  awhile  asleep,  till  the  season 
came  of  their  revival  and  restoration."  In  Vane's 
view,  as  we  well  know,  the  will  of  the  People  uttering 

1  Peter  Bayne,  Littell,  cxvii.  332,  333. 


516  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1662. 

itself  through  their  representatives  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  is  the  basis  of  the  Government  of  Eng- 
land, —  the  will  of  the  People  and  nothing  else :  but 
is  it  not  here  implied  that  the  King  and  House  of 
Lords,  "  preserved  in  their  root  during  the  inordinate 
fire  of*  the  times,"  have  a  place  in  that  Government, 
and  that  a  proper  season  may  come  "  for  their  revival 
and  restoration"?  In  Richard's  Parliament,  Vane, 
in  1659,  had  said  :  "  The  wise  providence  of  God  has 
brought  things,  in  these  our  days,  to  the  state  of 
government  as  we  now  find  it.  I  observe  a  variety 
of  opinions  as  to  what  our  state  of  government  is. 
Some  conceive  that  it  is  in  King,  Lords,  and  Com- 
mons ;  that  the  principles  of  old  foundations  yet  re- 
main entire.  ...  It  hath  pleased  God,  by  well- 
known  steps,  to  put  a  period  and  to  bring  that  gov- 
ernment to  a  dissolution."  In  1659,  then,  Vane 
seems  to  have  felt  that  King  and  Lords  were  gone. 
In  1662,  he  saw  them  restored,  and  appears  to  declare 
that  they  were  never  "  in  their  right  destroyed,"  and 
that  he  had  all  along  wished  to  preserve  them,  being 
parts  of  "  the  ancient  well-constituted  Government 
of  England." 

Must  we  deny  to  Vane  the  name  Republican  be- 
cause he  seems,  in  1662,  to  have  approved  for-  his 
scheme  the  institutions  of  King  and  Lords  ?  The 
truth  is,  few  terms  are  more  vague  and  shifting  in 
their  meaning  than  Republic  and  Republican.1 "  Any 
government,  in  the  last  century,  which  was  without 
hereditary  monarchy,  was  held  to  be  a  Republic  ; 
whereas,  to-day,  the  name  is  given  to  any  government 

1  Sir  Henry  Maine,  Popular  Government,  p.  210. 


1662.]    BEFORE   THE   COURT  OF  KING'S  BENCH.    5 1 7 

in  which  the  rule  of  the  many  is  substituted  for  that 
of  one,  or  the  few.  Poland  was  in  the  last  century  a 
Republic,  its  people  Republicans,  although  it  had  a 
King  in  whose  election  only  an  oligarchy  of  nobles 
took  part,  the  People  having  no  voice.  In  the  Re- 
publics of  Venice,  Genoa,  the  mediaeval  Italian  cities, 
again,  the  many  had  little  or  no  power,  the  rule  being 
that  of  an  oligarchy.  To-day,  England,  though  nom- 
inally a  Monarchy,  is  perhaps,  according  to  the  sec- 
ond definition,  more  truly  a  Republic  than  even  the 
United  States.  In  England  popular  government  is 
scarcely  restrained,  whereas  in  America,  as  Sir  Henry 
Maine  so  well  shows,  it  is  controlled  by  certain 
powerful  brakes.1  If  to  believe  that  power  lies  with 
the  People  is  to  be  a  Republican,  no  one  was  ever 
more  so  than  Vane.  The  essential  thing  in  his 
scheme  always  was  that  a  polity  must  have  for  its 
only  proper  basis  and  righteous  foundation  that  gen- 
eral judgment  "  which  in  the  collective  body  of  the 
People,  and  meeting  of  the  head  and  members  in 
Parliament,  is  called  the  supreme  authority,  and  is 
the  public  reason  and  will  of  the  whole  Kingdom ; 
the  going  against  which  is  in  nature,  as  well  as  by 
the  law  of  nations,  an  offence  of  the  highest  rank 
among  men  ;  for  it  must  be  presumed  that  there  is 
more  of  the  wisdom  and  will  of  God  in  that  public 
suffrage  of  the  whole  nation,  than  of  any  private  per- 
son or  lesser  collective  body  whatsoever." 2 

He   cites  repeatedly  Fortescue  as  the   authority 
beyond  all  others  to  be  followed.     The  supremacy  of 

1  Sir  Henry  Maine,  Pop.  Gov.,        *  People's   Case  Stated,  see   p. 
chapter  on  the  "  American  Consti-     505. 
tution." 


518  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1662. 

the  national  will  is  with  Fortescue  the  cardinal  prin- 
ciple.1 The  King  is  simply  minister,  not  master; 
the  Lords  in  themselves  have  no  right;  the  People 
alone  is  substantially  sovereign.  Whatever  we  call 
Vane,  he  was,  first  and  last,  for  the  sovereignty  of 
the  People  —  for  the  supremacy  of  manhood,  "  for 
Man  is  made  in  God's  image,  —  in  judgment  and  will 
like  unto  God  himself,  according  to  the  measure  that 
he  is  made  capable  to  be  the  receiver  thereof." 

As  regards  the  Stuarts,  the  tone  of  Vane's  defence  is 
somewhat  different  from  his  tone  in  the  earlier  time. 

Speaking  of  his  return  to  public  life  the  month 
after  the  execution  of  Charles  I,  he  said :  "  I  did  de- 
clare my  refusal  of  the  oath  of  abjuration,  which  was 
intended  to  be  taken  by  all  the  members  of  Parlia- 
ment, in  reference  to  kingly  government,  and  the 
line  of  his  own  Majesty  in  particular.  This  I  not 
only  positively  refused  to  take,  but  was  an  occasion 
of  the  second  thoughts  which  the  Parliament  reas- 
sumed  thereof,  till  in  a  manner  they  came  wholly  at 
last  to  decline  it :  a  proof  undeniable  of  the  remote- 
ness of  any  intentions  or  designs  of  mine,  as  to  the 
endeavoring  any  alteration  or  change  in  the  govern- 
ment; and  was  that  which  gave  such  jealousy  to 
many  in  the  House,  that  they  were  willing  to  take 
the  first  occasion  to  show  their  dislike  for  me,  and  to 
discharge  me  from  sitting  among  them.  I  utterly 
refused  to  approve  the  execution  of  the  King"  and 
would  not  accept  of  a  sitting  in  the  Council  of  State 
on  those  terms,  but  caused  a  new  oath  to  be  drawn. 

1  Fortescue,  De  Laudibus  Legum  Anglice.  See  also  Stubbs,  Const. 
Hist.  iii.  240  etc. 


1 662.]    BEFORE   THE   COURT  OF  KING'S  BENCH.      519 

"  And  whereas  I  am  charged  with  keeping  out  his 
Majesty  that  now  is,  from  exercising  his  regal  power 
and  royal  authority  in  this  his  kingdom  ;  —  through 
the  ill  will  borne  me  by  that  part  of  the  Parliament 
then  sitting,  I  was  discharged  from  being  a  member 
thereof  about  January  9,  1660,  and  by  many  of  them 
was  charged,  or  at  least  strongly  suspected,  to  be  a 
Royalist.  .  .  .  This  I  can  say,  that  from  the  time  I 
saw  his  Majesty's  declarations  from  Breda,  declaring 
his  intentions  and  declarations  as  to  his  return,  to 
take  upon  him  the  actual  exercises  of  his  regal  office 
in  England,  and  to  indemnify1  all  those  who  had  been 
actors  in  the  late  differences  and  wars,  ...  I  re- 
solved not  to  avoid  any  public  question,  ...  as  rely- 
ing on  my  own  innocency  and  his  Majesty's  declared 
favor,  as  before  said.  And  for  the  future,  I  deter- 
mined to  demean  myself  with  that  inoffensiveness 
and  agreeableness  to  my  duty,  as  to  give  no  just  mat- 
ter of  new  provocation  to  his  Majesty  in  his  govern- 
ment. All  this,  for  my  part,  hath  been  punctually 
observed,  whatever  my  sufferings  may  have  been. 
Nor  am  I  willing  in  the  least  to  harbor  any  discour- 
aging thoughts  in  my  mind  as  to  his  Majesty's  gen- 
erosity and  favor  toward  me,  who  have  been  faithful 
to  the  trust  I  was  engaged  in,  without  any  malicious 
intentions  against  his  Majesty,  or  his  Crown,  or  dig- 
nity, as  before  hath  been  showed,  and  I  am  desirous 
for  the  future  to  walk  peaceably  and  blamelessly." 

Let  it  be  remembered  that  Vane  in  the  summer  of 
1647,  in  concert  with  the  Army  chiefs  Ireton  and 
Cromwell,  had  done  all  he  could  to  induce  Charles  I 

1  To  show  indemnity  to. 


520  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1662. 

to  accept  the  "  Heads  of  Proposals,"  a  form  of  settle- 
ment which  would  have  given  to  England  a  polity 
very  like  that  of  to-day  —  a  King,  namely,  a  sover- 
eign in  a  dignified  position,  and  a  House  of  Lords, 
both,  however,  possessing  only  a  derived  power ;  for 
it  was  arranged  that  a  House  of  Commons,  elected 
by  a  suffrage  much  extended,  should  be  supreme, 
acting  for  the  People  whom  it  represented.  Charles 
would  have  nothing  to  do  with  such  a  scheme ;  and 
then  it  was  that  Vane,  accepted  the  more  radical  pro- 
gramme of  the  rank  and  file  of  the  Army,  antici- 
pating in  his  acceptance,  according  to  the  excelle'nt 
testimony  of  Ludlow,  both  Cromwell  and  Ireton. 
Though  Vane  resisted  Pride's  Purge  and  the  exe- 
cution of  the  King,  nothing  in  his  conduct  or  his 
speeches  —  from  the  time  when  he  became  a  main 
pillar  of  the  Commonwealth,  in  February,  1649,  up  to 
his  discharge  from  public  life  by  the  restored  Rump, 
in  1660 — indicates  that  he  had  any  feeling  but  hos- 
tility to  the  Stuarts,  and  that  they  must  never  be 
allowed  to  return  to  power.  When  in  1659  the  estab- 
lishment of  Richard  Cromwell's  power  upon  the  Peti- 
tion and  Advice  seemed  to  Vane  a  step  toward  the 
old  government,  he  spoke  of  the  Commonwealth 
as  a  foundation  "  upon  which  we  may  build  a  super- 
structure of  which  we  need  not  be  ashamed.  Now 
shall  we  be  under-builders  to  supreme  Stuart?  We 
have  no  need,  no  obligation  upon  us  to  return  to 
that  old  government."  What  do  the  words  imply 
but  that  he  then  thought  the  Stuart  race  evil,  and 
that  their  return  to  power  would  be  a  calamity  ?  So 
throughout  those  years  he  acted  with  the  opponents 


1662.]     BEFORE   THE   COURT  OF  KING'S  BENCH.     521 

of  the  Stuarts,  and  no  utterance  of  his  can  be  found 
implying  that  the  Stuarts  were  to  be  tolerated  as 
rulers  of  England.  —  This  being  so,  why,  it  may  be 
asked,  was  he  so  careful  in  1662  to  explain  to  his 
Royalist  judges  that  he  refused  in  1649  the  oath  of 
abjuration  of  Stuart  rule ;  that  he  brought  obloquy 
upon  himself  by  opposing  those  who  wished  to 
change  the  government ;  that  in  1660  he  was  dis- 
charged from  Parliament  and  suspected  by  his  former 
friends  of  being  a  Royalist ;  and  that  he  intended  in 
future  to  be  inoffensive  and  agreeable  to  the  restored 
Sovereign  toward  whom  and  his  Crown  and  dignity  he 
has  had  "  no  malicious  intentions  "  ?  We  have  heard 
the  intrepid  Scott  exclaim  when  all  was  lost,  speak- 
ing of  the  execution  of  Charles  I,  "  Though  I  know 
not  where  to  hide  my  head  at  this  time,  yet  I  dare  not 
refuse  to  own  that  not  only  my  hand,  but  my  heart 
also  was  in  that  action,"  and  end  by  saying  that  he 
asked  for  no  higher  epitaph  than,  "  Here  lieth  one 
who  had  a  hand  and  heart  in  the  execution  of  Charles 
Stuart."  Why,  it  may  be  asked,  did  not  Vane  make 
an  avowal  as  decisive,  an  avowal  that  he  had  kept 
out  the  Stuart  as  long  as  he  could  ?  Instead  of 
claiming  that  he  had  worked  "  without  any  malicious 
intentions  against  his  Majesty,  his  Crown,  or  dig- 
nity," why  did  he  not  admit  that  he  had  done  him  all 
the  harm  in  his  power  and  that  he  held  the  Restora- 
tion to  be  a  calamity  ? 

It  would  detract  immensely  from  the  impressive- 
ness  of  Vane's  bearing  in  these  last  solemn  hours,  if 
it  appeared  that  he  for  a  moment  hedged,  —  shrank 
from  his  record,  and  tried  to  twist  it  into  a  shape  less 


522  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1662. 

objectionable  to  the  hostile  eyes  that  were  so  eagerly 
scanning  it.  Throughout  his  trial,  and  in  the  dread- 
ful scene  upon  the  scaffold  to  which  we  are  about 
to  proceed,  his  intrepidity  was  perfect,  and  it  is 
quite  absurd  to  suppose  that  there  can  have  been 
even  a  momentary  cringing.  What  explanation,  then, 
can  be  given  of  declarations  which  seem  not  in 
accord  with  the  utterances  and  strivings  of  his  great 
years  ? 

Vane,  through  all,  was  of  a  conservative  spirit. 
Most  unwillingly  did  he  abandon  the  hope  of  saving 
the  ancient  triple  polity  of  King,  Lords,  and  Com- 
mons. Though  the  People  must  be  supreme,  accord- 
ing to  what  he  believed  the  ancient  way,  yet  King 
and  Lords  in  their  place,  as  ministers  not  masters, 
and  not  arrogating  to  themselves  special  privileges, 
—  he  felt  were  useful  functionaries.  Forced  by  cir- 
cumstances, he  tried  faithfully  to  establish  a  consti- 
tution without  a  Single  Person  or  an  Upper  House, 
but  the  failure  was  complete.  It  may  easily  have 
been  the  case  that  in  his  latter  days,  as  he  reviewed 
in  prison  "  the  inordinate  fire  of  the  time,"  in  which 
so  much  had  been  melted  down,  and  in  whose  flame 
he  had  been  forced  to  move,  he  felt,  as  he  had  not 
felt  before,  how  impracticable  in  the  circumstances 
the  effort  was  which  the  Commonwealth's  men  had 
made.  Something  less  revolutionary,  he  may  natu- 
rally have  thought,  was  the  only  thing  possible  for 
England ;  and,  after  all,  was  there  not  a  hope  that  the 
young  Charles,  taught  by  his  own  bitter  experience, 
and  with  the  thought  in  his  soul  of  his  beheaded 
father,  might  prove  at  last  that  constitutional  chief 


1662.]    BEFORE   THE   COURT  OF  KINGS  BENCH.     523 

magistrate,  who  without  arbitrary  assumption  would 
do  the  People's  will  ?  Charles  was  good-natured  and 
affable ;  more  than  that,  he  was  disposed  to  mercy. 
The  Regicides,  to  be  sure,  were  torn  limb  from  limb  ; 
but  in  that  age  it  was  not  unusual  cruelty.  To  all 
others  Charles  turned  graciously ;  and  the  world 
universally  —  not  simply  Cavaliers  and  Presbyte- 
rians, but  Cromwellians,  ancient  Roundheads,  even 
the  grim  remains  of  the  Ironsides  whom  Charles  had 
reviewed  upon  Black-heath  —  were  ready  to  credit 
the  young  monarch  with  good  intentions.  Why  may 
not  Vane  have  been  affected  to  some  extent  as  the 
world  in  general  were  ?  Perhaps  he  forgot  how  un- 
compromising he  had  been  in  past  years  in  his  oppo- 
sition :  we,  who  have  now  his  words  and  the  detailed 
record  of  his  deeds  before  us,  are  able  to  see  that  noth- 
ing could  have  been  sterner.  It  is  easier  at  any  rate 
to  believe  that  he  forgot  than  that  he  hedged :  it  is 
easier  to  believe  that  when  he  spoke  hopefully  of  a 
Stuart,  he  was  quite  unconscious  that  his  words  would 
seem  incongruous  with  anything  he  had  ever  said  or 
done  before,  than  that  for  a  single  moment  he  showed 
insincerity,  in  the  hope  of  obtaining  mercy. 

His  doom  became  inevitable  when  he  declared  in- 
trepidly the  subordinacy  of  the  King.  By  natural 
right  and  the  best  legal  authorities  he  showed  how 
"  it  may  appear  what  superiors  the  King  himself 
hath,  —  God,  Law,  and  Parliament." 

He  concluded  by  putting  questions  to  the  Court, 
of  which  the  following  are  the  essential  ones,  begging 
again  that  counsel  might  be  assigned,  to  argue 
them :  — 


524  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1662. 

"  i.  Whether  the  collective  body  of  the  Parlia- 
ment can  be  impeached  of  high-treason  ? 

"  2.  Whether  any  person  acting  by  authority  of  Par- 
liament, can,  so  long  as  he  acteth  by  that  authority, 
commit  treason  ? 

"  3.  Whether  matters  acted  by  that  authority  can 
be  called  in  question  in  an  inferior  court  ? 

"  4.  Whether  a  King  de  jure  and  out  of  possession, 
can  have  treason  committed  against  him,  he  not 
being  King  de  facto,  and  in  actual  possession  ?  " 

i 

Vane's  defence  has  been  handed  down  by  himself; 
he  wrote  out  immediately  after  the  trial  the  substance 
of  his  plea,  a  memorandum  preserved  in  the  State 
Trials.  He  fought  for  his  life  for  ten  hours  without 
refreshment.  It  is  a  noble  address,  but  it  was  of  no 
avail :  the  jury,  after  an  absence  of  half  an  hour, 
brought  in  a  verdict  of  guilty.  In  his  cell  after- 
wards he  showed  cheerfulness  and  no  sign  that  his 
strength  was  exhausted.  There  was  hope  that  even 
if  condemned,  his  life  might  be  spared.  He  was  not 
one  of  the  Regicides,  and  indemnity  had  been  prom- 
ised to  all  but  them.  His  prominence  in  the  past, 
and  the  fear  of  his  talents  and  dispositions,  caused 
that  he  was  brought  to  trial ;  but  Parliament,  after 
much  discussion,  had  agreed  that  if  the  jury  con- 
victed him,  the  King  should  be  petitioned  for  his 
life.1  and  the  King  had  signified  that  he  would  grant 
such  a  petition.  Charles  IIX  however,  wrote  now  to 
Clarendon,  the  Chancellor,  the  following  letter :  — 

1  Aug.  22-25,  1660 ;    see  Par/,  of  1662,  "more  favorable  to  mon- 

Hist.  iv.  p.   103  etc.,  also  p.  119.  archy,  applied  for  his  trial  and  con- 

The  Convention   Parliament  peti-  demnation."    Ibid.  p.  255. 
tioned  the  King  for  Vane,  but  that 


1662.]     BEFORE   THE   COURT  OF  KING'S  BENCH.     525 

"  Hampton  Court,  Saturday,  two  in  the  afternoon. 
The  relation  that  hath  been  made  to  me  of  Sir  H. 
Vane's  carriage  yesterday,  in  the  Hall,  is  the  occasion 
of  this  letter ;  which  if  I  am  rightly  informed,  was  so 
insolent  as  to  justify  all  he  had  done,  acknowledging 
no  supreme  power  in  England  but  a  Parliament; 
and  many  things  to  that  purpose.  You  have  had  a 
true  account  of  all ;  and  if  he  has  given  new  occasion 
to  be  hanged,  certainly  he  is  too  dangerous  a  man  to 
let  live,  if  we  can  honestly  put  him  out  of  the  way. 
Think  of  this  and  give  me  some  account  of  it  to- 
morrow ;  till  when  I  have  no  more  to  say  to  you." 

Charles  was  understood  in  this  note  to  withdraw 
his  promise  of  pardon,  an  act  which  has  been  re- 
garded as  one  of  the  greatest  stains  upon  his  career. 
He  was  unquestionably  much  frightened.  In  the 
Stuartist  conception,  what  could  be  more  dangerous 
than  the  doctrines  of  Vane,  and  how  formidable 
might  such  a  man  become  if  suffered  to  go  at  large  ? 
Magnanimity  was  not  to  be  expected  from  the  King. 
Vane  was  "  too  dangerous  a  man  to  let  live,"  and  on 
June  nth  he  was  again  brought  from  the  Tower  to 
receive  his  sentence.  When  asked  if  he  had  any- 
thing to  say  why  sentence  of  death  should  not  be 
passed  upon  him,  he  proceeded  to  throw  every  pos- 
sible technical  objection  in  the  way.  He  demanded 
to  have  the  indictment  read  in  Latin,  since  it  was  in- 
scribed in  that  language.  How  otherwise  could  it  be 
told  that  the  translation  he  had  heard  rendered  it 
properly?  He  claimed  again  counsel,  to  make  ex- 
ceptions. This  was  denied ;  whereupon  he  himself 
offered  a  bill  of  exceptions,  staggering  the  judges  by 


526  YOUNG   SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1662. 

bringing  up  in  support  of  the  proceeding  an  over- 
looked statute  of  Edward  I :  "  That  if  any  man 
find  himself  aggrieved  by  the  proceedings  against 
him  before  any  justices,  let  him  write  his  Exception 
and  desire  the  justices  to  set  their  seals  to  it."  After 
a  sharp  contest  the  judges,  in  spite  of  the  statute,  de- 
clined to  receive  the  exceptions.  "  To  the  bystanders 
their  chief  reason  seemed  to  be,  that  it  had  not  been 
practised  this  hundred  or  two  of  years."  Vane  caused 
each  judge  to  put  himself,  individually,  upon  record 
as  denying  him  this  right, — a  responsibility  which 
the  bench  undertook  in  some  confusion.  At  last  he 
reminded  the  court  that  there  were  certain  questions 
of  law  to  be  settled  before  judgment  could  be  passed, 
•which  he  went  on  to  state  as  follows :  — 

"  i.  Whether  a  Parliament  were  accountable  to 
any  inferior  court  ? 

"  2.  Whether  the  King,  being  out  of  possession  "  — 

Here  the  Court  broke  in  impatiently,  "  that  the 
King  was  never  out  of  possession,"  —  whereupon 
Vane's  instant  rejoinder  was,  that  in  thar  casevthe  in- 
dictment must  inevitably  fall  to  the  ground,  for  the 
charge  it  alleged  was  "  that  he  endeavored  to  keep 
out  his  Majesty,  and  how  could  he  keep  him  out  if 
he  were  not  out  ? " 

He  felt,  however,  that  all  was  useless,  and  at  length 
accepted  his  fate.  The  old  reporter  of  the  State 
Trials  relates :  — 

"  But  when  he  saw  they  would  overrule  him  in  all, 
and  were  bent  upon  his  condemnation,  he  put  up  his 
papers,  appealing  to  the  righteous  judgment  of  God, 
who  (he  told  them)  must  judge  them  as  well  as  him, 


1 662.]    BEFORE   THE   COURT  OF  KING'S  BENCH.     527 

often  expressing  his  satisfaction  to  die  upon  this  tes- 
timony ;  which  Keeling,  one  of  the  King's  counsel, 
insultingly  answered :  '  So  you  may,  Sir,  in  good 
time,  by  the  grace  of  God.'  The  same  person  had 
often  before  showed  a  very  snappish  property  towards 
the  prisoner,  and  Sir  Henry  sometimes  answered  him 
according  to  his  folly :  for  when  he  would  have  had 
the  book  out  of  the  prisoner's  hand,  wherein  was  the 
statute  of  Westminster,  2d.  c.  31 ;  Sir  Henry  told 
him,  '  He  had  a  very  officious  memory,  and  when  he 
was  of  counsel  for  him,  he  would  find  him  books.' 
Whereby  was  verified  what  was  said  to  be  spoken  by 
him,  at  first,  in  answer  to  one  of  his  brethren,  on  the 
Arraignment-day,  *  Though  we  know  not  what  to 
say  to  him,  we  know  what  to  do  with  him.' " 

The  execution  was  appointed  to  take  place  the 
1 4th  of  June.  The  sentence  was,  that  he  should  be 
hanged,  cut  down  while  living,  his  body  cut  open,  and 
his  bowels  burned  before  his  face;  that  his  head 
should  be  severed  from  his  body,  and  his  body  then 
quartered.  "YThe  Chief  Justice  tried  to  persuade  the 
King  that  he  lay  under  no  obligation  to  grant  the 
petition  of  Parliament,  saying,  "  God,  though  full  of 
mercy,  yet  intended  his  mercy  only  for  the  penitent." 
The  only  favor  shown  the  prisoner  was  to  allow  him 
at  last  to  be  beheaded,  instead  of  undergoing  the 
frightful  death  described  above,  a  death  which  the 
Regicides  had  suffered. 

The  bill  of  exceptions  which  Vane  was  not  allowed 
to  present  he  carefully  prepared,  and  it  has  been  pre- 
served. It  is  drawn  with  ability ;  but  a  more  inter- 
esting paper,  as  giving  evidence  of  his  serenity  and 


528  .      YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1662. 

elevation  of  mind  as  he  faced  a  death  of  torture  and 
ignominy,  is  his  "  Reasons  for  an  Arrest  of  Judg- 
ment, writ  by  the  Prisoner,  but  refused  to  be  heard 
by  the  Court."  Its  tone  may  be  judged  from  the 
following :  — 

"  My  Lords :  If  I  have  been  free  and  plain  with  you 
in  this  matter,  I  beg  your  pardon :  for  it  concerns  me 
to  be  so,  and  something  more  than  ordinarily  urgent, 
where  both  my  estate  and  life  are  in  such  eminent 
peril ;  nay,  more  than  my  life,  the  concerns  of  thou- 
sands of  lives  are  in  it,  not  only  of  those  that  are  in 
their  graves  already,  but  of  all  posterity  in  time  to 
come.  Had  nothing  been  in  it  but  the  care  to  pre- 
serve my  own  life,  I  needed  not  have  stayed  in  Eng- 
land, but  might  have  taken  my  opportunity  to  with- 
draw myself  into  foreign  parts,  to  provide  for  my  own 
safety.  Nor  needed  I  to  have  been  put  upon  pleading 
as  now  I  am,  for  an  arrest  of  judgment ;  but  might 
have  watched  upon  advantages  that  were  visible 
enough  to  me,  in  the  managing  of  my  trial,  if  I  had 
consulted  only  the  preservation  of  my  life  or  estate. 

"  No,  my  lords,  I  have  otherwise  learned  Christ 
than  to  fear  them  that  can  but  kill  the  body,  and 
have  no  more  that  they  can  do.  I  have  also  taken 
notice,  in  the  little  reading  that  I  have  had  of  history, 
how  glorious  the  very  heathens  have  rendered  their 
names  to  posterity,  in  the  contempt  they  have  showed 
of  death,  (when  the  laying  down  of  their  life  has 
appeared  to  be  their  duty)  from  the  love  which  they 
have  owed  to  their  country.  Two  remarkable  ex- 
amples of  this,  give  me  leave  to  mention  to  you  upon 


1 662.]    BEFORE   THE  COURT  OF  KING'S  BENCH.     529 

this  occasion.  The  one  is  of  Socrates,  the  divine 
philosopher,  who  was  brought  into  question  before 
a  judgment-seat,  as  now  I  am,  for  maintaining  that 
there  was  but  one  only  true  God,  against  the  mul- 
tiplicity of  the  superstitious  heathen  Gods ;  and  he 
was  so  little  in  love  with  his  life  upon  this  account 
(wherein  he  knew  the  right  was  on  his  side)  that  he 
could  not  be  persuaded  by  his  friends  to  make  any 
defence,  but  would  choose  rather  to  put  it  upon  the 
conscience  and  determination  of  his  judges,  to  decide 
that  wherein  he  knew  not  how  to  make  any  choice 
of  his  own,  as  to  what  should  be  best  for  him, 
whether  to  live  or  die.  The  other  example  is  tha»t  of 
a  chief  governor,  Codrus,  that,  to  the  best  of  my  re- 
membrance, had  the  command  of  a  city  in  Greece, 
which  was  besieged  by  a  potent  enemy  and  brought 
into  unimaginable  straits.  Hereupon,  the  said  Gov- 
ernor makes  his  address  to  the  oracle  to  know  the 
event  of  that  danger.  The  answer  was,  '  That  the 
city  should  be  safely  preserved,  if  the  chief  gover- 
nor were  slain  by  the  enemy.'  He,  understanding 
this,  immediately  disguised  himself  and  went  into  the 
enemy's  camp,  amongst  whom  he  did  so  comport 
himself  that  they  unwittingly  put  him  to  death ;  by 
which  means  immediately,  safety  and  deliverance 
arose  to  the  city,  as  the  oracle  had  declared.  So  little 
was  his  life  in  esteem  with  him,  when  the  good  and 
safety  of  his  country  required  the  laying  of  it  down." l 

The  breaches  of  legality  in  this  memorable  trial 
have  been  exhibited  by  high  authorities.     In  consid- 

1  Reasons  for  an  Arrest  of  Judgment,  183. 


530  YOUNG   SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1662. 

ering  the  last  hours  of  Vane,  it  is  impossible  not  to 
think  of  those  of  Strafford.  "  The  one  began,  the 
other  closed,  the  list  of  proscriptions  furnished  by  this 
period  of  civil  discord." ]  The  cases  are  so  like  and 
yet  so  unlike  !  The  one  stood  for  Kingly  power,  as 
the  other  stood  for  that  of  the  People.  Here,  how 
in  contrast  the  two  men !  yet  in  strength  of  soul  and 
power  of  mind  and  character  how  similar  !  Each  in 
the  eyes  of  the  party  which  he  opposed  was  "  too 
dangerous  a  man  to  let  live."  Each,  when  arraigned 
at  Westminster  Hall,  like  a  lion  ensnared,  tore  to 
pieces  as  if  they  were  so  much  rotten  thread  the  legal 
meshes  in  which  his  hunters  sought  to  hold  him  fast. 
Each  was  condemned  arbitrarily  with  small  show  of 
statutory  right.  Both  at  last,  representatives  of  great 
conflicting  ideas,  resigned  themselves  calmly  and 
prayerfully  to  their  fate,  impressive  examples  of  the 
greatness  to  which  man  may  attain. 

1  Lingard,  Hist,  of  Eng.  xii.  p.  39. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

THE    SCAFFOLD.1 

ON  the  1 3th  of  June,  the  day  before  his  execution, 
Vane  said  to  his  children,2  who  were  permitted  to 
come  to  him : 

"  You  have  no  cause  to  be  ashamed  of  my  chain, 
or  to  fear  being  brought  into  the  like  circumstances 
I  now  am  in,  so  it  be  on  as  good  an  occasion,  for  the 
name  and  cause  of  Christ,  and  for  his  righteousness' 
sake.  Let  this  word  abide  with  you  whatever  befalls 
you.  Resolve  to  suffer  anything  from  men  rather 
than  sin  against  God ;  yea,  rejoice  and  be  exceeding 
glad,  when  you  find  it  given  to  you,  on  the  behalf  of 
Christ,  not  only  to  believe  in  him,  but  to  suffer  for 
his  name.  .  .  .  O  thou  whom  our  souls  do  love,  tell  us 
where  thou  feedest,  and  makest  thy  flock  to  rest  at 
noon,  under  the  scorching  heat  of  man's  persecuting 
wrath ! 

"  God  seems  now  to  take  all  our  concerns  wholly 
into  his  own  hands.  You  will  be  deprived  of  my 

1  The  details  of  Vane's  closing  a  curious  story,  for  which  see  Bur- 
hours  are  from  Sikes  and  The  net,  Hist,  of  his  Own  Times,  i.  p. 
State  Trials.  280,  note.  This  story,  which  can- 

a  At  this  time  possibly  seven  not  with  propriety  be  given  here, 

children  were  living.  Christopher,  makes  Christopher  to  have  been 

the  youngest  son,  through  whom  a  posthumous  son,  whereas  other 

the  line  descends,  is  the  subject  of  authorities  assign  his  birth  to 

1653- 


532  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY   VANE.  [1662. 

bodily  presence,  but  Abraham's  blessing  shall  come 
upon  you.  The  Lord  revive,  and  cause  to  grow  up 
and  flourish,  whatever  is  of  that  faith  of  Abraham 
in  you  that  is  in  your  father ;  and  grant  it  may  more 
and  more  appear  in  my  family,  after  I  am  gone  hence, 
and  no  more  seen  in  my  mortal  body !  " 

As  Vane  took  farewell  of  his  children  he  said, 
kissing  them  :  "  The  Lord  bless  you  ;  he  will  be  a 
better  father  to  you  ;  I  must  now  forget  that  ever  I 
knew  you.  I  can  willingly  leave  this  place  and  out- 
ward enjoyments,  for  those  I  shall  meet  with  here- 
after in  a  better  country.  I  have  made  it  my  busi- 
ness to  acquaint  myself  with  the  society  of  Heaven. 
Be  not  you  troubled,  for  I  am  going  home  to  my 
father." 

The  sorrowing  household  found  themselves  to- 
gether unexpectedly  once  more  on  the  following  day, 
when  the  doomed  father  prayed  with  them.  .  .  . 

"  There  hath  been  a  battle  fought  with  garments 
rolled  in  blood,  in  which  (upon  solemn  appeals  on 
both  sides)  thou  didst  own  thy  servants ;  though, 
through  the  spirit  of  hypocrisy  and  apostasy,  that 
hath  sprung  up  amongst  us,  these  nations  have  been 
thought  unworthy  any  longer  to  enjoy  the  fruits  of 
that  deliverance.  Thou  hast  therefore  another  day 
of  decision  yet  to  come.  Such  a  battle  is  to  begin, 
and  to  be  carried  on  by  the  faith  of  thy  people ;  yea, 
is  in  some  sort  begun  by  the  faith  of  thy  poor  ser- 
vant, that  is  now  going  to  seal  thy  cause  with  his 
blood.  O  that  this  decision  of  thine  may  remark- 
ably show  itself  in  thy  servant  at  this  time,  by  his 
bold  testimony  and  sealing  it  with  his  blood ! 


1 662.]  THE  SCAFFOLD.  533 

"  We  know  not  what  interruptions  may  attend  thy 
servant ;  but,  Lord,  let  thy  power  carry  him  in  holy 
triumph  over  all  difficulties. 

"  O  that  thy  servant  could  speak  any  blessing  to 
these  three  nations !  Let  thy  remnant  be  gathered 
to  thee.  Prosper  and  relieve  that  poor  handful  that 
are  in  prisons  and  bonds,  that  they  may  be  raised  up, 
and  trample  death  under  foot.  Let  my  poor  family 
that  is  left  desolate,  let  my  dear  wife  and  children, 
be  taken  into  thy  care ;  be  thou  a  husband,  father, 
and  master  to  them.  Let  the  spirits  of  those  that 
love  me,  be  drawn  out  towards  them.  Let  a  blessing 
be  upon  these  friends  that  are  here  at  this  time. 
Show  thyself  a  loving  father  to  us  all,  and  do  for  us 
abundantly,  above  and  beyond  all  that  we  can  ask  or 
think,  for  Jesus  Christ  his  sake  —  Amen." 

As  his  family  withdrew,  Vane  was  heard  to  say : 
"  There  is  some  flesh  remaining  yet ;  but  I  must  cast 
it  behind  me  and  press  forward  to  my  father." 

As  one  goes  through  Eastcheap  to-day  out  upon 
the  open  space  of  Tower  Hill,  he  finds  himself  among 
prosaic  surroundings.  Over  the  pavement  rattles  the 
traffic  to  and  from  the  great  London  docks  close  at 
hand.  High  warehouses  rise  at  the  side  ;  the  sooty 
trail  of  steamers  pollutes  the  air  toward  the  river.  In 
one  direction,  however,  the  view  has  suggestions  the 
reverse  of  commonplace.  Looking  thither,  the  sensi- 
tive beholder  feels  with  deep  emotion  the  fact  brought 
home  to  him,  that  to  men  of  English  speech,  the 
earth  has  scarcely  a  spot  more  memorable  than  the 
ground  where  he  is  standing.  There  rise,  as  they 
have  risen  for  eight  hundred  years,  the  gray  walls  of 


534  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY   VANE.  [1662. 

the  Tower  —  the  moat  in  the  foreground ;  the  battle- 
mented  line  of  masonry  behind ;  within,  the  white 
keep  with  its  four  turrets,  as  they  were  left  by  the 
architect  of  William  the  Conqueror.  Where  you  are 
standing,  Shakespeare  makes  to  have  stood  the  for- 
lorn mother  of  the  two  princes  about  to  be  smothered, 
and  here  she  wept  forth  that  touching  apostrophe : 

"  Pity,  you  ancient  stones,  those  tender  babes 
Whom  envy  hath  immured  within  your  walls  ! 
Rude  cradle  for  such  little  pretty  ones, 
Rough  rugged  nurse,  old  sullen  playfellow 
For  tender  princes,  use  my  babies  well !  " 

As  mothers  have  shed  tears  there  for  imprisoned 
children,  so  children  standing  there  have  wondered 
which  blocks  in  the  grim  masonry  covered  the  dun- 
geons of  their  fathers  and  mothers.  Again  and 
again,  too,  through  the  ages  all  London  has  gathered, 
waiting  in  a  hush  for  the  dropping  of  the  drawbridge 
before  the  Byward  tower,  and  the  coming  forth  of 
the  mournful  train,  conducting  some  world-famous 
man  to  the  block,  draped  with  black  on  the  scaffold 
to  the  left  where  the  hill  is  highest. 

On  the  1 4th  of  June,  1662,  in  the  full  glory  of  the 
summer,  Vane,  in  the  strength  of  his  manhood,  was 
brought  forth  there  to  die.  A  disciple  who  was  per- 
mitted to  stand  by  his  master  writes  : l  — 

"  The  day  before  his  execution  his  friends  had  lib- 
erty to  visit  him ;  he  received  them  with  very  great 
cheerfulness ;  and  when  they  would  have  persuaded 
him  to  make  some  submission  to  the  King,  and  to 
endeavor  the  obtaining  of  his  life,  he  said,  '  If  the 
King  do  not  think  himself  more  concerned  for  his 

1  State  Trials. 


1 662.]  THE  SCAFFOLD.  535 

honour  and  word,  than  he  did  for  his  life,  he  was  very 
willing  they  should  take  it.  Nay,  I  declare,'  said  he, 
4  that  I  value  my  life  less  in  a  good  cause  than  the 
King  can  do  his  promise.'  And  when  some  others 
were  speaking  to  him,  of  giving  some  thousands  of 
pounds  for  his  life ;  he  said,  '  If  a  thousand  farthings 
would  gain  it,  he  would  not  give  it ;  and  if  any  should 
attempt  to  make  such  a  bargain  he  would  spoil  their 
market.  For  I  think  the  King  himself  so  sufficiently 
obliged  to  spare  my  life,  that  it  is  fitter  for  him  to  do 
it,  than  myself  to  seek  it.' 

"  On  Saturday,  the  day  of  his  Execution,  he  said 
to  a  friend,  '  God  bid  Moses  go  to  the  top  of  Mount 
Pisgah  and  die ;  so  he  bid  him  go  up  to  the  top  of 
Tower-hill  and  die.'  Several  friends  being  in  his 
chamber  this  morning  he  oft  encouraged  them  to 
cheerfulness,  as  well  by  his  example  as  expression. 
In  all  his  deportment,  he  shewed  himself  marvel- 
lously fitted  to  meet  the  King  of  Terrors,  without 
the  least  affrightment.  But  to  show  where  his 
strength  lay,  he  said,  He  was  a  poor  unworthy  wretch, 
and  had  nothing  but  the  grace  and  goodness  of  God 
to  depend  upon.  He  said,  moreover,  Death  shrunk 
from  him,  rather  than  he  from  it.  ... 

"  He  told  his  friends,  the  Sheriff's  chaplain  came  to 
him  at  twelve  of  the  clock  that  night,  with  an  order 
for  his  Execution,  telling  him,  he  was  come  to  bring 
him  the  fatal  message  of  death.  '  I  think,  friends,  that 
in  this  was  no  dismalness  at  all.  After  the  receipt  of 
which,  I  slept  four  hours  so  soundly,  that  the  Lord 
hath  made  it  sufficient  for  me,  and  now  I  am  going 
to  sleep  my  last,  after  which  I  shall  need  sleep  no 
more.' 


536  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1662. 

"  Then  Mr.  Sheriff  coming  into  the  room,  was 
friendly  saluted  by  him,  and  after  a  little  pause  com- 
municated a  prohibition  that  he  said  he  received, 
which  was,  That  he  must  not  speak  anything  against 
his  majesty  or  the  government.  His  answer  to  this 
he  himself  relates  on  the  Scaffold.  He  further  told 
Mr.  Sheriff,  he  was  ready ;  but  the  Sheriff  said  he 
was  not,  nor  could  be  this  half  hour  yet :  '  Then,  sir, 
it  rests  on  you,  not  on  me,'  (said  Sir  Henry,)  '  for  I 
have  been  ready  this  half  hour.'  Then  the  Sheriff, 
at  his  request,  promised  him  his  servants  should  at- 
tend him  on  the  Scaffold,  and  be  civilly  dealt  with ; 
neither  of  which  were  performed ;  (notwithstanding 
this  promise  they  were  beaten  and  kept  off  the  Scaf- 
fold, till  he  said,  '  What,  have  I  never  a  servant 
here  ?')...  He  went  very  cheerfully  and  readily 
down  the  stairs  from  his  chamber,  and  seating  him- 
self on  the  sledge  (friends  and  servants  standing 
about  him)  then  he  was  forthwith  drawn  away  to- 
wards the  Scaffold.  As  he  went,  some  in  the  Tower 
(Prisoners  as  well  as  others)  spake  to  him,  praying 
the  Lord  to  go  with  him. 

"  And  after  he  was  out  of  the  Tower,  from  the 
tops  of  houses,  and  out  of  windows,  the  people  used 
such  means  and  gestures  as  might  best  discover,  'at  a 
distance,  their  respects  and  love  to  him,  crying  aloud, 
*  The  Lord  go  with  you,  the  great  God  of  Heaven 
and  Earth  appear  in  you,  and  for  you  ; '  where'of  he 
took  what  notice  he  was  capable  in  these  circum- 
stances, in  a  cheerful  manner,  accepting  their  re- 
spects, putting  off  his  hat  and  bowing  to  them.  Be- 
ing asked,  several  times,  how  he  did,  by  some  about 


1662.]  THE  SCAFFOLD.  537 

him,  he  answered,  '  Never  better  in  all  my  life.' 
Another  replied,  '  How  should  he  do  ill  that  suffers 
for  so  glorious  a  cause  ? '  To  which  a  tall  black  man 
said,  '  Many  suffered  for  a  better  cause  ; '  '  and  many 
for  a  worse,'  said  Sir  Henry ;  wishing,  that  when  they 
come  to  seal  their  better  cause  (as  he  called  it)  with 
their  blood  (as  he  was  now  going  to  seal  his)  they 
might  not  find  themselves  deceived ;  and  as  to  this 
cause,  said  he,  it  hath  given  life  in  death  to  all  the 
owners  of  it,  and  sufferers  for  it. 

"  Being  passed  within  the  rails  on  Tower-hill,  there 
were  loud  acclamations  of  the  people,  crying  out, 
'  The  Lord  Jesus  go  with  your  dear  soul,'  etc.  One 
told  him,  that  was  the  most  glorious  seat  he  ever  sat 
on  ;  he  answered,  '  It  is  so  indeed,'  and  rejoiced  ex- 
ceedingly. 

"  Being  come  to  the  Scaffold,  he  cheerfully  ascends, 
and  being  up,  after  the  crowd  on  the  Scaffold  was 
broken  into  pieces,  to  make  way  for  him,  he  shewed 
himself  to  the  people  on  the  front  of  the  Scaffold, 
with  that  noble  and  christian-like  deportment,  that  he 
rather  seemed  a  looker  on,  than  the  person  con- 
cerned in  the  Execution,  insomuch  that  it  was  diffi- 
cult to  persuade  many  of  the  people  that  he  was  the 
prisoner. 

"  But  when  they  knew  that  the  gentleman  in  the 
black  suit  and  cloke  (with  a  scarlet  silk  waistcoat, 
the  victorious  colour  shewing  itself  at  the  breast)  was 
the  prisoner,  they  generally  admired  that  noble  and 
great  presence  he  appeared  with. 

" '  How  cheerful  he  is,'  said  some ;  '  He  does  not 
look  like  a  dying  man,'  said  others;  with  many  like 


538  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1662. 

speeches,  as  astonished  with  that  strange  appearance 
he  shined  forth  in. 

"  Then,  (silence  being  commanded  by  the  Sheriff) 
lifting  up  his  hands  and  eyes  towards  Heaven,  and 
resting  his  hands  on  the  rail ;  and  taking  a  very  se- 
rious, composed,  and  majestic  view  of  the  great  mul- 
titude, about  him,  he  spake  as  follows  :  — 

"  '  Gentlemen,  Fellow  Countrymen,  and  Christians  : 

" '  When  Mr.  Sheriff  came  to  me  this  morning  and 
told  me  he  had  received  a  command  from  the  King, 
that  I  should  say  nothing  reflecting  upon  his  majesty 
or  the  government ;  I  answered,  I  should  confine  and 
order  my  Speech,  as  near  as  I  could,  so  as  to  be  least 
offensive,  saving  my  faithfulness  to  the  trust  reposed 
in  me,  which  I  must  ever  discharge  with  a  good  con- 
science unto  death ;  for  I  ever  valued  a  man  accord- 
ing to  his  faithfulness  to  the  trust  reposed  in  him, 
even  on  his  majesty's  behalf,  in  the  late  controversy. 
"  '  And  if  you  dare  trust  my  discretion,  Mr.  Sheriff, 
I  shall  do  nothing  but  what  becomes  a  good  Christian 
and  an  Englishman ;  and  so  I  hope  I  shall  be  civilly 
dealt  with. 

" '  When  Mr.  Sheriff's  chaplain  came  to  me  last 
night  about  twelve  of  the  clock,  to  bring  me,  as  he 
called  it,  the  fatal  message  of  death,  it  pleased  the 
Lord  to  bring  that  scripture  to  my  mind  in  the.  3d  of 
Zechariah,  to  intimate  to  me,  that  he  was  now  taking 
away  my  filthy  garments,  causing  my  iniquities  to 
pass  from  me,  with  intention  to  give  me  change  of 
rayment,  and  that  my  mortal  should  put  on  immor- 
tality. 


1662.]  THE  SCAFFOLD.  539 

" '  I  suppose  you  may  wonder  when  I  shall  tell  you 
that  I  am  not  brought  hither  according  to  any 
known  Law  of  the  Land.  It  is  true  I  have  been 
before  a  court  of  justice  (and  am  now  going  to  ap- 
pear before  a  greater  Tribunal,  where  I  am  to  give 
an  account  of  all  my  actions) ;  under  their  sentence 
I  stand  here  at  this  time.  When  I  was  before  them, 
I  could  not  have  the  liberty  and  privilege  of  an  Eng- 
lishman, the  grounds,  reasons,  and  causes  of  the  act- 
ings I  was  charged  with  duly  considered ;  I  therefore 
desired  the  Judges  that  they  would  set  their  seals  to 
my  Bill  of  Exceptions ;  I  pressed  hard  for  it  again 
and  again,  as  the  right  of  myself  and  every  free-born 
Englishman  by  the  Law  of  the  Land,  but  was  finally 
denyed  it'  — 

"  Here  Sir  John  Robinson  (lieutenant  of  the  Tower) 
interrupted  him,  saying,  '  Sir,  you  must  not  go  on 
thus,'  and  (in  a  furious  manner,  generally  observed 
even  to  the  dissatisfaction  of  some  of  their  own  at- 
tendants) said  that  he  railed  against  the  Judges,  and 
that  it  was  a  lye,  and  I  am  here,  says  he,  to  testify 
that  it  is  false. 

"  Sir  Henry  Vane  replied: 

"'God  will  judge  bet  ween  me  and  you  in  this  mat- 
ter. I  speak  but  matter  of  fact,  and  cannot  you  hear 
that?  'T is  evident  the  Judges  have  refused  to  sign 
my  Bill  of  Exceptions  '  —  Then  the  trumpets  were 
ordered  to  sound  or  murre  in  his  face,  with  a  con- 
temptible noise,  to  hinder  his  being  heard.  At  which 
Sir  Henry  (lifting  up  his  hand,  and  then  laying  it  on 
his  breast)  said,  *  What  mean  you,  Gentlemen  ?  Is 
this  your  usage  of  me  ?  Did  you  use  all  the  rest  so  ? 


540  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1662. 

I  had  even  done,  as  to  that,  could  you  have  been 
patient,  but  seeing  you  cannot  bear  it,  I  shall  only 
say  this,  That  whereas  the  Judges  have  refused  to 
seal  that  with  their  hands  that  they  have  done, 
I  am  come  to  seal  that  with  my  blood  that  I  have 
done.  Therefore  leaving  this  matter,  which  I  per- 
ceive will  not  be  borne,  I  judge  it  meet  to  give  you 
some  account  of  my  life. 

"  '  I  might  tell  you  I  was  born  a  gentleman,  had  the 
education,  temper,  and  spirit  of  a  gentleman,  as  well 
as  others,  being  (in  my  youthful  days)  inclined  to  the 
vanities  of  this  world  and  to  that  which  they  call 
Goodfellowship,  judging  it  to  be  the  only  means  of 
accomplishing  a  gentleman.  But  about  the  I4th  or 
1 5th  year  of  my  age  (which  is  about  34  or  35  years 
since)  God  was  pleased  to  lay  the  foundation,  or 
ground-work,  of  Repentance  in  me,  for  the  bringing 
me  home  to  myself,  by  his  wonderful,  rich,  and  free 
grace,  revealing  his  Son  in  me,  that  by  the  knowl- 
edge of  "  The  only  true  God,  and  Jesus  Christ  whom 
he  hath  sent,"  I  might  (even  whilst  here  in  the  body) 
be  made  partaker  of  eternal  life  in  the  first  fruits 
of  it. 

" '  When  my  conscience  was  thus  awakened,  I  found 
my  former  course  to  be  disloyalty  to  God,  profane- 
ness,  and  a  way  of  sin  and  death,  which  I  did  with 
tears  and  bitterness  bewail,  as  I  had  cause  to  do. 
Since  that  foundation  of  repentance  laid  ill  me, 
through  grace  I  have  been  kept  stedfast,  desiring  to 
walk  in  all  good  conscience  towards  God  and  towards 
men,  according  to  the  best  light,  and  understanding 
God  gave  me.  For  this  I  was  willing  to  turn  my 


1662.]  THE  SCAFFOLD.  541 

back  upon  my  estate,  expose  myself  to  hazards  in 
foreign  parts ;  yea,  nothing  seemed  difficult  to  me, 
so  I  might  preserve  faith  and  a  good  conscience, 
which  I  prefer  before  all  things ;  and  do  earnestly 
persuade  all  people  rather  to  suffer  the  highest  con- 
tradictions from  men,  than  disobey  God,  by  contra- 
dicting the  light  of  their  own  conscience. 

" '  In  all  respects,  where  I  have  concerned  and  en- 
gaged, as  to  the  public,  my  design  hath  been  to  ac- 
complish good  things  for  these  nations.'  Then  (lift- 
ing up  his  eyes,  and  spreading  his  hands)  he  said, '  I  do 
here  appeal  to  the  great  God  of  Heaven,  and  all  this 
assembly,  or  any  other  persons,  to  shew  wherein  I 
have  denied  my  hands  with  any  man's  blood  or  estate, 
or  that  I  have  sought  myself  in  any  public  capacity 
or  place  I  have  been  in.  The  Cause  was  three  times 
stated.  First,  In  the  Remonstrance  of  the  House  of 
Commons.  Secondly,  In  the  Covenant,  the  Solemn 
League  and  Covenant '  — 

"  Upon  this  the  trumpets  sounded,  the  Sheriff 
catched  at  the  Paper  in  his  hand ;  and  Sir  John  Rob- 
inson, who  at  first  acknowledged  that  he  had  nothing 
to  do  there,  wishing  the  Sheriff  to  see  to  it,  yet  found 
himself  something  to  do  now,  furiously  calling  for  the 
writers  books,1  and  saying,  '  He  treats  of  Rebellion, 
and  you  write  it.'  Hereupon  six  Note-Books  were 
delivered  up.  The  Prisoner  was  very  patient  and 
composed  under  all  these  injuries,  and  soundings  of 
the  trumpets  several  times  in  his  face,  only  saying, 
It  was  hard  he  might  not  be  suffered  to  speak;  but, 

1  Several  of  Vane's  friends  were  taking  notes  of  his  words. 


542  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1662. 

says  he,  '  My  usage  from  man  is  no  harder  than  was 
my  Lord  and  Master's ;  and  all  that  will  live  his  life 
this  day,  must  expect  hard  dealing  from  the  worldly 
spirit '  — 

"  The  trumpets  sounded  again,  to  hinder  his  being 
heard,  then  again  Robinson,  and  two  or  three  others, 
endeavored  to  snatch  the  Paper  out  of  Sir  Henry's 
hand ;  but  he  kept  it  for  a  while,  now  and  then  read- 
ing part  of  it;  afterwards,  tearing  it  in  pieces,  he 
delivered  it  to  a  friend  behind  him,  who  was  pres- 
ently forced  to  deliver  it  to  the  Sheriff.  Then  they 
put  their  hands  into  his  pockets  for  papers  (as  was 
pretended)  which  bred  great  confusion  and  dissatis- 
faction to  the  spectators,  seeing  a  prisoner  so  strangely 
handled  in  his  dying  words. 

"  The  Prisoner  expecting  beforehand  the  disorder 
aforementioned,  writ  the  main  substance  of  what  he 
intended  to  speak  on  the  Scaffold,  the  true  copy 
whereof  was  by  the  Prisoner  carefully  committed  to 
a  safe  hand  before  he  came  to  the  scaffold." 

Vane's  address,  thus  roughly  broken  off,  appears 
not  to  have  been  resumed.  The  notes  prepared 
beforehand,  "  committed  to  a  safe  hand,"  are  given 
in  full  by  the  reporter.  They  breathe  throughout 
the  spirit  of  piety  and  courage :  the  most  interesting 
passages  are  those  in  which  he  refers  to  events  in 
his  past  career.  He  declares  that  without  seeking 
of  his  own,  he  became  a  member  of  the  Long  Par- 
liament, and  entered  upon  a  public  career,  —  that 
by  steps  he  became  convinced  that  the  cause  of  the 
Houses  was  the  cause  of  God.  He  is  nowhere  more 


i662.]  THE  SCAFFOLD.  543 

earnest  than  in  his  allusion  to  the  part  he  had  borne 
in  the  negotiation  and  carrying  out  of  the  Solemn 
League  and  Covenant.  He  felt  keenly  the  obloquy 
to  which  he  had  been  exposed  in  consequence  of  it, 
and  asserted  with  the  greatest  solemnity  his  recti- 
tude of  purpose  in  words  which  have  been  already 
quoted.1  The  speech  is  throughout  free  from  fanati- 
cism, except  at  the  conclusion,  where  a  dream  of  the 
Fifth  Monarchy  drifts  athwart  the  thought,  with  a 
picturesque  effect.  Who  would  have  had  it  other- 
wise ?  One  is  glad  that  the  great  soul  could  comfort 
itself  with  a  hope  so  glorious. 

"  I  shall  not  desire  in  this  place  to  take  much  time, 
but  only,  as  my  last  words,  leave  this  with  you. 
That  as  the  present  storm  we  now  lie  under,  and 
the  dark  clouds  that  yet  hang  over  the  reformed 
churches  of  Christ,  (which  are  coming  thicker  and 
thicker  for  a  season)  were  not  unforeseen  by  me  for 
many  years  past  (as  some  writings  of  mine  declare) : 
So  the  coming  of  Christ  in  these  clouds,  in  order  to 
a  speedy  and  sudden  revival  of  his  cause,  and  spread- 
ing his  kingdom  over  the  face  of  the  whole  earth,  is 
most  clear  to  the  eye  of  my  faith,  even  that  in  which 
I  die,  whereby  the  kingdoms  of  this  world  shall  be- 
come the  kingdom  of  our  Lord,  and  of  his  Christ. 
Amen.  Even  so,  come,  Lord  Jesus." 

Though  he  was  not  suffered  to  speak,  he  was  suf- 
fered to  pray  without  interruption,  which  he  did  at 
great  length,  uttering  this  among  his  petitions :  — 

"  Thy   servant,  that   is   now  falling   asleep,  doth 
heartily  desire  of  thee,  that  thou  wouldst  forgive  his 
enemies,  and  not  lay  this  sin  to  their  charge." 
1  See  pp.  185,  1 86. 


544  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1662. 

"  I  bless  the  Lord,"  he  said,  as  he  knelt  at  the 
block,  "  who  hath  accounted  me  worthy  to  suffer  for 
his  name.  Blessed  be  the  Lord,  that  I  have  kept  a 
conscience  void  of  offence  to  this  day.  I  bless  the 
Lord,  that  I  have  not  deserted  the  righteous  cause 
for  which  I  suffer." 

"  Father,  glorify  thy  servant  in  the  sight  of  man 
that  he  may  glorify  thee  in  the  discharge  of  his  duty 
to  thee  and  to  his  country." 

One  feels  that  a  thought  of  his  old  comrades,  the 
great  strivers  for  freedom,  with  whom  he  had  gone 
shoulder  to  shoulder,  must  have  passed  through  his 
mind.  Some,  like  Fairfax,  forgetting  their  former 
enthusiasm,  at  peace  with  the  Stuart,  enjoyed  tranquil 
ease.  Lambert  had  been  brought  to  trial  at  the  same 
time  with  himself,  but  having  made  humble  submis- 
sion, was  to  cultivate  flowers  and  work  embroidery 
for  twenty  years  to  come.  The  heads  of  Cromwell 
and  Bradshaw  looked  ghastly  from  their  poles  upon 
the  north  gable  of  Westminster  Hall.  Blake  and  Ire- 
ton  had  fallen  before  the  cause  was  hopeless,  but  their 
bodies  had  been  flung  into  dishonored  graves.  Pym 
and  Hampden,  dying  in  the  morning  of  the  strife,  had 
been  spared  the  burden  and  heat  of  the  long  day. 
Scott  and  Harrison  had  been  torn  limb  from  Irmb. 
Algernon  Sidney  lived  and  was  faithful,  —  a  victim 
destined  for  a  later  day.  Not  far  off,  too,  in  Jewin 
Street,  Aldersgate,  the  blind  Milton  still  lived,  and 
must  have  paused,  one  thinks,  in  the  dictating  of 
Paradise  Lost,  heavy-hearted  in  the  death-hour  of  the 
man,  once  his  friend,  whose  praise  he  had  sung  in  a 
day  of  triumph.  Did  Vane  have  in  mind  his  old 


1662.]  THE  SCAFFOLD.  545 

yoke-fellows  of  the  Honest  Party,  or  was  the  supreme 
moment  given  to  things  above  this  world  ?  There  is 
a  tradition  that  he  spoke  once  more.  As  his  neck 
lay  across  the  block,  the  headsman  inquired,  "  Shall 
you  raise  your  head  again  ?  "  "  Not  till  the  final  resur- 
rection," was  the  reply.  Another  moment  —  and  it 
was  done. 

Some  disciple,  not  present,  wrote  soon  after  to  one 
who  attended  Vane  upon  the  scaffold  a  curious  let- 
ter, preserved  by  Sikes,  the  sentences  of  which  be- 
come solemnly  lyrical  like  those  of  the  Canticles  or 
a  triumphal  psalm,  as  the  love  of  the  fanatical  en- 
thusiast pours  itself  out. 

"  Didst  thou  stand  forth  by  my  worthy  friend  and 
bear  him  company  ?  Did  thy  soul  suffer  with  him 
and  rejoice  with  him,  riding  in  his  chariot  of  triumph, 
to  the  block,  to  the  axe,  to  the  crown,  to  the  banner, 
to  the  bed  and  ivory  throne  of  the  Lord  God,  thy 
Redeemer? 

"  Were  not  his  eyes  like  the  pure  dove's,  fixed 
upon  his  mate,  single  and  clear  ?  Was  not  his  breast- 
plate strong  like  steel  ?  Did  the  arrows,  the  sharp 
trials  and  cruel  mockeries  pierce  it  ?  Did  not  his 
shield  cover  him  like  the  targets  of  Solomon  ?  Was 
it  not  beaten  gold  ?  When  it  was  tried  did  it  yield 
to  the  tempter  ?  O  precious  faith !  Tell  me,  my 
friend,  how  did  he  wield  his  glittering  flaming 
sword  ? 

"  O  mighty  man  of  valor !  Thou  champion  for  the 
Lord  and  his  host,  when  they  were  defied !  How 


546  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE.  [1662. 

hast  thou  spoiled  them !     The   Goliath   is  trodden 
under  foot.     The  whole  army  of  the  Philistines  fly." 

After  two  centuries  and  a  quarter,  these  raptures 
of  the  Fifth  Monarchist  have  an  air  of  frenzy,  though 
pervaded,  who  will  deny  it?  by  a  certain  wild  and 
melancholy  beauty.  To  the  world  in  general  of 
Vane's  time,  as  his  career  ended  thus  upon  Tower 
Hill,  failure  never  seemed  more  complete.  Not  so : 
his  cause  was  not  lost,  but  only  postponed.  In  a 
hundred  years  America  made  real  his  noble  ideal ; 
and  to-day  on  far  continents  and  distant  isles  of  the 
sea,  noble  states  are  shaping  themselves  according  to 
the  ideas  of  that  band  of  heroes  among  whom  he 
stood  a  chief.  So,  too,  his  beloved  England  steadily 
transforms  herself  into  the  shape  of  that  Common- 
wealth for  which  he  strove  and  died,  "for  the  last 
two  hundred  years  having  done  little  more  than  carry 
out  in  a  slow  and  tentative  way,  but  very  surely,  the 
programme  laid  down  by  Vane  and  his  friends  at 
the  end  of  the  Civil  War."1 

1  John  Richard  Green  ;  see  p.  90. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

WHY   THE   STORY   OF  VANE   IS   TIMELY   AT  THE   PRESENT 

HOUR. 

AT  the  time  of  the  centennial  anniversary  of  the 
early  events  of  the  American  Revolution,  the  writer 
remembers  to  have  seen  a  certain  patriotic  fellow-cit- 
izen of  his  own  greatly  taken  back  by  what,  to  most 
Americans  perhaps,  would  seem  a  very  profane  sug- 
gestion. "  One  hundred  years  ago,"  said  the  patriot, 
"  my  great-grandfather  stood  among  the  '  embattled 
farmers '  at  Concord  Bridge,  and  there  fired  one  of 
the  first  shots  in  resistance  to  British  aggression." 
As  he  stroked  his  chin  in  complacent  certainty  that 
his  listeners  must  necessarily  admire  a  man  whose 
ancestor  had  been  so  heroic  —  "  Well,"  said  an  old 
man  of  the  group,  "  was  it  worth  while  ?  Was  the 
American  Revolution  worth  while?  Would  it  not 
have  been  better  if  the  British  Empire  had  remained 
undivided  ?  "  The  company  stood  aghast  at  the  au- 
dacity of  the  man  who  at  the  very  time  when  the  air 
was  full  of  the  flap  of  the  great  spread  eagle  dared 
without  fear  of  his  beak  to  ask  whether  the  separa- 
tion of  America  from  England  were  worth  while. 

Let  us  inquire  for  a  moment  whether  there  is  any 
reason  in  such  a  question.  The  American  Revolu- 


548  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE. 

tion  began  at  the  time  of  the  Stamp  Act,  in  1764, 
with  the  declaration  of  the  colonists  that  they  would 
not  be  taxed  unless  they  could  be  represented  in  the 
Legislative  Body  that  imposed  the  tax. 

Excellent  friends  of  America  in  England,  and  sev- 
eral of  the  leading  patriots  among  the  colonists,  be- 
lieved it  quite  feasible  that  representatives  should  be 
sent  from  this  side  of  the  water  to  the  British  Par- 
liament, and  regarded  this  as  the  best  way  to  put  an 
end  to  the  discontent.  James  Otis,  who  until  he  be- 
came insane  in  1770  was  the  most  conspicuous  leader 
of  the  Northern  colonies,  never  entertained  a  wis*h 
for  independence,  felt  that  it  would  be  a  calamity  to 
be  separated  from  the  mother-country,  and  that  all 
grievances  might  easily  be  adjusted,  if  only  certain 
deputies  from  the  colonies  might  sit  at  Westminster. 
"  Remember,  Britons," l  he  exclaims  in  an  impas- 
sioned address  before  madness  fell  upon  him,  "  when 
you  shall  be  taxed  without  your  consent,  and  tried 
without  a  jury,  and  have  an  army  quartered  in  pri- 
vate families,  you  will  have  little  to  hope  or  fear.  .  .  . 
I  find  it  generally  much  disliked  in  the  colonies  and 
thought  impracticable,  an  American  representation 
in  Parliament.  I  would  humbly  ask  if  there  be  really 
and  naturally  any  greater  absurdity  in  the  plan  than 
in  a  Welsh  and  Scotch  representation.  An  Ameri- 
can representation,  in  my  sense  of  the  terms  and  as  I 
ever  used  them,  implies  a  thorough  beneficial  imion 
of  these  colonies  to  the  realm  or  mother-country,  so 
that  all  parts  of  the  empire  may  be  compacted  and 
consolidated,  the  constitution  flourish  with  new  vigor, 

1  Tudor,  Life  of  Otis,  191  etc. 


WHY  THE  STORY  OF   VANE  IS  TIMELY.      549 

and  the  national  strength,  power,  and  importance, 
shine  with  far  greater  splendor  than  hath  ever  yet 
been  seen  by  the  sons  of  men.  An  American  repre- 
sentation implies  every  real  advantage  to  the  subject 
abroad  as  well  as  at  home.  .  .  .  Every  region,  na- 
tion, and  people,  must  to  all  real  intents  and  pur- 
poses, be  united,  knit,  and  worked  into  the  very  bones 
and  blood  of  the  original  system,  as  fast  as  subdued, 
settled,  or  allied." 

James  Otis  was  far  enough  from  standing  alone 
among  Americans.  More  illustrious  still,  Benjamin 
Franklin  was  opposed  to  independence  almost  to  the 
moment  of  the  Declaration,  making,  not  exultingly 
but  quite  ruefully,  his  famous  joke  at  that  time : 
"  Now,  gentlemen,  we  must  all  hang  together  or  we 
shall  all  hang  separately."  1  His  favorite  plan  had 
been  to  keep  together  the  British  empire,  which  he 
compared  to  a  handsome  China  bowl,  ruined  if  a 
piece  were  broken  out  of  it.  With  prophetic  soul  he 
foresaw  the  time  when  a  vast  population  would  hold 
the  valley  of  the  Mississippi  and  the  lands  farther 
westward,  giving  his  forecast  at  a  day  when  few  men, 
even  in  thought,  had  crossed  the  Alleghanies.  He 
believed  the  time  was  not  far  off,  when,  if  the  British 
empire  could  only  be  kept  together,  the  portion  of  it 
contained  in  America  would  preponderate  in  impor- 
tance, that  the  seat  of  government  would  be  trans- 
ferred, and  America  become  principal  while  England 
became  subordinate. 

1  Tudor's  Otis,  p.  391.     Lecky,  Cora,    of    Correspond.,    May    15, 

Hist,  of  the  XVIII  Century,  vol.  1771  :  to  Job.  Winthrop,  July  25, 

iii.  p.  349  etc.    See  also  Franklin's  1773:  to  Jos.  Galloway,  Feb.  25, 

Works,  vol.  iv.  p.  41.     Franklin  to  1775:   to  Francis    Maseres,   June 

his  son,  Nov.  25,  1767:  to  Mass.  26,  1785,  etc.,  etc. 


550  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE. 

American  statesmen  were  not  alone  in  favoring  a 
solution  of  the  quarrel  by  an  American  representa- 
tion in  Parliament.  Grenville,1  the  minister  who 
imposed  the  Stamp  Act,  was  disposed  to  think  it  a 
wise  measure.  Adam  Smith,  in  so  many  ways  the 
most  far-seeing  Englishman  of  his  time,  in  the 
"  Wealth  of  Nations  " 2  favored  strongly  the  idea. 
While  admitting  the  difficulties,  he  contended  they 
were  not  insurmountable.  His  scheme  was  that  the 
number  of  representatives  should  be  proportioned  to 
the  produce  of  American  taxation.  Following  in  the 
thought  of  Franklin,  he  maintained  that  it  was  far 
from  unlikely  that  in  less  than  a  century  the  produce 
of  American  taxation  would  exceed  that  of  Britain, 
and  that  the  seat  of  empire  would  then  be  trans- 
ferred to  America.  A  strong  disposition  to  concede 
the  seats  soon  came  to  pass  among  men  of  influence 
in  England.  Meantime,  however,  in  America  a  class 
of  leaders  had  gained  influence,  of  whom  Samuel 
Adams  was  the  most  conspicuous  figure,  who  be- 
lieved a  fair  American  representation  in  Parliament 
was  quite  impracticable,  and  would  hear  of  nothing 
but  independence, 

"Some  splendid  visions  arise  in  the  mind,  while 
contemplating  such  a  grand  representative  dominion 
as  this  would  have  been." 3  Our  age  is  noteworthy 
through  its  tendency  to  unification.  Through  Ca- 
vour  disintegrated  Italy  has  come  together  into  a 
great  and  powerful  kingdom,  under  the  headship  of 

1  Hutchinson,    Hist,   of  Mass.        2  Wealth   of  Nations,   ii.    103, 
Bay,  vol.  iii.  p.  1 12.     Lecky,  vol.     104,  Hartford  ed.  1804. 
iii.  p.  349.  8  Tudor,  Life  of  Otis,  199. 


WHY  THE  STORY  OF   VANE  IS  TIMELY.      551 

the  able  House  of  Savoy.  Still  more  memorably, 
Germany  has  been  redeemed  from  the  granulation 
which  for  so  many  ages  has  made  her  a  mere  rope 
of  sand,  her  petty  principalities  and  kingdoms  be- 
coming plaited  at  length  into  a  nation  magnificent 
in  size,  power,  and  ability.  Such  unification  can  be 
regarded  as  only  advantageous,  whether  we  look  to- 
ward the  general  welfare  of  the  human  race,  or  to  the 
internal  benefits  brought  by  such  consolidation  to 
the  powers  themselves.  The  practical  annihilation 
of  space  and  time,  as  man  gains  dominion  over  the 
world  of  matter,  makes  it  possible  that  states  should 
be  immense  in  size  as  never  before.  The  ends  of 
the  earth  talk  together  almost  without  shouting ;  the 
man  of  to-day  moves  from  place  to  place  more  easily 
and  speedily  than  the  rider  of  the  enchanted  horse 
or  the  owner  of  the  magic  carpet  in  the  Arabian 
Nights.  Modern  political  unification  is  a  step  to- 
ward making  real  the  brotherhood  of  the  human 

O 

race,  the  coming  together  of  mankind  into  one  har- 
monious family,  a  consummation  to  which  the  benev- 
olent have  always  looked  forward.1 

Moreover,  by  such  political  unification  the  individ- 
ual man  is  enlarged  and  lifted  up.  There  is  some- 
thing in  the  remark  of  Froude  : 2  "  The  dimension 
and  value  of  any  single  man  depend  upon  the  body 
of  which  he  is  a  member.  ...  A  citizen  of  an  impe- 
rial power  expands  to  the  scope  and  fulness  of  the 
larger  organism,  —  the  grander  the  organization,  the 
larger  and  more  important  the  unit  that  knows  he 

1  See  the  author's  Life  of  Samuel  Adams,  p.  65. 

2  Oceana,  pp.  355,  356. 


552  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE. 

belongs  to  it.  His  thoughts  are  wider,  his  interests 
less  selfish,  his  ambitions  ampler  and  nobler.  .  .  . 
Behind  each  American  citizen  America  is  standing, 
and  he  knows  it,  —  is  the  man  that  he  is  because  he 
knows  it.  ...  A  great  nation  makes  great  men ;  a 
small  nation  makes  little  men." 

Who  can  question  that  in  the  case  of  the  individual 
citizen  whose  political  atmosphere  is  that  of  a  mighty 
state,  there  is  a  largeness  of  view,  a  magnanimity  of 
spirit,  a  sense  of  dignity,  an  obliteration  of  small  pre- 
judices, an  altogether  nobler  set  of  ideas,  than  are 
possible  to  the  citizen  of  a  contracted  land  !  Really, 
in  the  highest  view,  any  limitation  of  the  sympathies 
which  prevents  a  thorough,  generous  going  out  of 
the  heart  toward  the  whole  human  race,  is  to  be  re- 
gretted. The  time  is  to  be  longed  and  labored  for 
when  patriotism  shall  become  merged  into  a  cosmo- 
politan humanity.  The  man  who  can  call  sixty  mil- 
lion fellow-citizens  is  nearer  that  magnificent  breadth 
of  love,  than  he  whose  country  is  a  narrow  patch. 
What  if  a  man  could  call  one  hundred  million  fel- 
low-citizens ?  Was  the  American  Revolution  worth 
while  ?  Would  not  the  welfare  of  the  English-speak- 
ing race,  of  the  world  in  general,  have  been  better 
served  if  the  British  empire  had  remained  undivided  ? 
But  for  the  opposition  of  America,  George  III  and 
his  ministers  might  have  been  brought  to  accord  an 
American  representation  in  Parliament.  After  the 
sharp  fighting,  Lord  North  stood  ready  to  concede 
every  essential  point  in  dispute.  England  fairly  went 
down  upon  her  knees  in  her  efforts  to  retain  us. 
Anything  to  keep  the  empire  unbroken!  "  In  vain," 


WHY  THE  STORY  OF  VANE  IS  TIMELY.      553 

says  May,  "  the  British  Parliament  humbling  itself 
before  its  rebellious  subjects,  repealed  the  American 
tea-duty,  and  renounced  its  claims  to  the  imperial 
taxation.  In  vain  were  Parliamentary  commissioners 
empowered  to  suspend  the  acts  of  which  the  colo- 
nists complained,  —  to  concede  every  demand  but 
independence,  and  almost  to  sue  for  peace." *  Noth- 
ing, however,  would  do ;  America  declared  it  was  too 
late,  and  preferred  to  take  her  stand  by  herself. 

Alone,  among  all  the  great  English-speaking  de- 
pendencies of  England,  America  has  preferred  to 
stand  by  herself.  All  the  rest  have  remained,  and 
been  glad  and  proud  to  remain,  attached  to  the 
mother-land.  At  the  same  time  they  have  liberty. 
Let  us  glance  for  a  moment  at  these  faithful  depen- 
dencies, which  to-day  are  even  freer  in  their  forms  of 
government  than  the  United  States.  Throughout  the 
British  empire  what  is  called  "  responsible  govern- 
ment "  prevails.  Power  is  in  the  hands  of  a  ministry, 
taken  from,  and  reflecting  the  will  of  the  dominant 
party  among  the  People.  If  the  party  ceases  to  be  in  a 
majority,  the  ministry  must  at  once  resign,  giving  way 
to  successors  from  the  new  party  that  comes  upper- 
most. So  we  find  it  in  Canada,  which  is  to-day  prac- 
tically free,  at  the  same  time  deriving  much  prestige, 
indeed  substantial  benefit,  from  her  connection  with 
the  mother-land.  In  Cape  Colony  a  similar  constitu- 
tion is  established ;  so  too  in  New  Zealand.  In  the 
latter  noble  country,  three  closely  contiguous  islands 
form  a  territory  nearly  as  large  as  Italy,  which  has 
been  settled  by  men  of  the  best  strain  of  English 
blood.  The  land  is  divided  into  eight  great  provinces, 
1  Constitutional  Hist,  of  England,  ii.  524. 


554  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE. 

each  with  its  own  chief  magistrate  and  legislature 
elected  by  a  suffrage  almost  universal,  each  in  its  own 
affairs  self-ruling,  like  a  state  of  the  American  Union. 
The  eight  together  form  a  confederation,  in  which, 
whatever  slight  reservation  of  power  to  the  home 
government  may  have  been  made,  the  land  is  in  all 
substantial  respects  free. 

But  of  all  the  present  dependencies  of  England,  no 
one  is  so  interesting  as  Australia.  There  is  perhaps 
no  land  in  the  world  in  which  democratic  freedom 
has  made  such  progress  as  here.  In  the  United 
States  Constitution,  the  existence  of  an  Upper  House, 
the  Senate,  has  always  been  regarded  as  an  aristo- 
cratic feature,  but  a  most  necessary  one.  Timely 
delays  in  legislation  when  the  delegates  direct  from 
the  people  incline  to  be  over-hasty,  cautious  reviews 
of  public  measures,  resistance  to  the  violence  of  fac- 
tion and  the  tyranny  of  the  majority,  the  means  of  ju- 
dicious compromise,  —  these  are  advantages  claimed 
to  flow  from  an  Upper  House,  a  necessary  check  and 
balance  in  a  representative  government.1  Australia, 
however,  has  seen  fit  to  cast  all  this  aside :  there  is 
no  Upper  House ;  the  majority  of  a  single  chamber 
is  absolute.  In  1850,  when  New  South  Wales  was 
divided  into  two  colonies,  one  taking  the  name -of 
Victoria,  the  constitution  was  revised ;  the  feature, 
however,  of  the  single  chamber  was  retained  in  both. 
It  belongs,  too,  to  the  schemes  fixed  upon  for  the 
later  colonies,  South  Australia,  Western  Australia, 
Tasmania,  and  Queensland.  Though  a  portion  of 
the  legislatures  is  nominated  by  the  crown-appointed 

1  Following  Sir  T.  E.  May  (Con-  which  has  in  some  respects  been 
stitut.  Hist.  II.  p.  535,  etc.)  I  have  changed.  There  has  been,  however, 
described  here  a  state  of  things  no  diminution  of  popular  freedom. 


WHY  THE  STORY  OF   VANE  IS   TIMELY.      555 

Governor,  the  great  majority  are  elected  by  a  suffrage 
practically  free ;  responsible  government  is  fully 
established,  the  executive  changing  according  to  the 
will  of  the  majority,  as  a  vane  responds  to  the  breeze 
which  for  the  time  may  blow.  Whatever  slight 
checks  upon  entire  self-government  may  exist,  they 
are  never  enforced.  These  six  great  colonies,  with  a 
population  increasing  fast  in  the  millions,  with  cities 
of  500,000  souls,  with  universities  perhaps  equal  to 
the  best  in  Europe,  and  all  the  appliances  of  the  high- 
est civilization,  possess  a  degree  of  democratic  free- 
dom from  which  even  an  American  shrinks;  yet 
with  it  all  they  are  proud  and  happy  to  be  constitu- 
ents of  the  mighty  British  empire  rather  than  inde- 
pendent ;  and  Britain  in  turn,  proud  of  the  children, 
throws  round  them  the  protection  of  her  Army  and 
Navy  without  counting  the  heavy  cost. 

"  Thus  the  most  considerable  dependencies  of  the 
British  crown  have  advanced  until  an  ancient  mon- 
archy has  become  the  parent  of  democratic  Republics 
in  all  parts  of  the  globe.  The  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  is  scarcely  so  democratic  as  that  of 
Canada  or  Australia.  The  President's  fixed  tenure 
of  office  and  large  executive  powers,  the  independent 
position  and  authority  of  the  Senate  and  the  control 
of  the  Supreme  Court,  are  checks  upon  the  democ- 
racy of  Congress.  In  these  colonies  the  nominees  of 
a  majority  of  the  democratic  assembly,  for  the  time 
being,  are  absolute  masters  of  the  colonial  govern- 
ment. .  .  .  The  tie  which  binds  them  [the  colonies] 
to  her  [the  mother-land]  is  one  of  sentiment  rather 
than  authority.  .  .  .  Political  dominion  has  been 


556  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE. 

virtually  renounced.  In  short,  their  dependence  has 
become  little  more  than  nominal."1 

Was  the  American  Revolution  worth  while,  or 
would  it  have  been  better  for  America  to  remain  and 
become  the  grandest  member  of  the  fraternity  ? 

Instead  of  beholding  one  magnificent  empire,  at 
peace  in  all  its  members,  numbering  more  than 
100,000,000,  comprehending  the  entire  great  family 
that  use  the  English  speech,  all  working  harmoni- 
ously together  to  compass  a  civilization  reaching 
always  higher  and  higher,  we  have  the  unlovely  spec- 
tacle of  two  sharply  distinguished,  ever  jarring  nation- 
alities, between  whom  there  has  twice  been  fierce 
and  bloody  war,  between  whom  jealousies,  rivalries, 
grievances  are  ever  recurring,  which  have  brought  us 
a  dozen  times  to  the  brink  of  war,  —  a  spectacle  of 
discordance  contrary  to  the  unifying  spirit  of  the 
age. 

Such  a  presentment,  however,  of  arguments  favor- 
ing the  view  that  the  American  Revolution  was  not 
worth  while  is  only  upon  the  surface  plausible.  That 
great  movement  was  not  a  mistake.  Samuel  Adams 
who  conceived  it,  and  Washington  who  carried  it 
through,  deserve  respect  and  blessing,  and  from  Eng- 
lishmen as  well  as  Americans.  As  regards  America 
herself,  independence  was  undoubtedly  necessary  to 
any  adequate  development.  In  the  middle  of.  the 
eighteenth  century,  but  for  help  from  England, 
America  would  in  all  probability  have  fallen  to 
France.  That  danger  surmounted,  a  smiting  off  of 
all  trammels  was  necessary  in  order  that  growth 
should  not  be  dwarfed  and  one-sided. 

1  May,  ii.  538. 


WHY  THE  STORY  OF   VANE  IS  TIMELY.      557 

Without  stopping  to  consider  a  proposition  so  ob- 
vious as  that  America  herself  was  helped  by  becom- 
ing independent,  let  us  inquire  for  a  moment  as  to 
the  effect  of  the  American  revolt  elsewhere  than  at 
home.  Charles  James  Fox  is  said  to  have  exclaimed 
once :  "  The  resistance  of  the  Americans  to  the 
oppression  of  the  mother-country  has  undoubtedly 
preserved  the  liberties  of  mankind."  If  such  a  decla- 
ration appears  too  sweeping,  the  value  of  the  Amer- 
ican revolt  as  regards  the  British  empire,  at  any  rate, 
can  scarcely  be  exaggerated.  How  has  it  come  to 
pass  that  the  untrammelled  freedom  to-day  allowed  to 
the  dependencies  of  England  exists  ?  It  has  come  to 
pass  directly  from  the  circumstance  that  the  mother- 
country  learned  wisdom  from  her  fiery  experience 
with  America.  Her  eyes  were  opened  to  what  was 
and  what  was  not  possible,  and  it  is  directly  as  a  con- 
sequence of  the  American  struggle  that  she  has  at 
length  established  it  as  a  principle  that  colonies  are 
to  be  left  to  themselves.  America  by  conquering 
secured  not  only  her  own  freedom,  but  that  of  her 
fellow-dependencies,  those  then  existing  and  those 
afterward  to  be  established. 

Perhaps  still  more  than  this  can  be  said :  did  not 
the  resistance  of  America  save  England  herself? 
Buckle,  in  his  History  of  Civilization,  speaking  of 
the  dangers  to  England,  one  hundred  years  ago, 
through  the  encroachments  of  royal  and  aristocratic 
power,  says :  *  "  The  danger  was  so  imminent  as  to 
make  the  ablest  defenders  of  popular  liberty  believe 
that  everything  was  at  stake,  and  that  if  the  Ameri- 
1  Vol.  i.  345,  Am.  ed. 


558  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE. 

cans  were  vanquished  the  next  step  would  be  to  at- 
tack the  liberties  of  England,  and  endeavor  to  extend 
to  the  mother-country  the  same  arbitrary  govern- 
ment which  by  that  time  would  have  been  established 
in  the  colonies.  .  .  .  The  danger  was  far  more  seri- 
ous than  men  are  now  inclined  to  believe.  During 
many  years  the  authority  of  the  Crown  continued  to 
increase  until  it  reached  a  height  of  which  no  ex- 
ample had  been  seen  in  England  for  several  gen- 
erations. .  .  .  There  is  no  doubt,  I  think,  that  the 
American  War  was  a  great  crisis  in  the  history  of 
England,  and  that  if  the  colonists  had  been  defeated, 
our  liberties  for  a  time  would  have  been  in  consider- 
able jeopardy.  From  that  risk  we  were  saved  by  the 
Americans,  who  with  heroic  spirit  resisted  the  royal 
armies." 

A  dark  picture  indeed  can  be  drawn  of  the  condi- 
tion in  which  lay  the  England  of  George  III.  In 
primeval  times  there  had  existed  a  large  amount  of 
popular  liberty.  All  the  free  inhabitants  had  a  voice 
in  the  rule,  the  people  assembling  in  great  multi- 
tudes for  the  transaction  of  public  business.  In  no 
other  country,  so  late  as  the  fifteenth  century,  were 
the  independent  yeomen,  the  small  landed  proprie- 
tors, so  numerous  as  in  England ;  all  such  were  taxed, 
and  all  such  took  part  energetically  in  the  work  of 
self-government,  in  the  ways  transmitted  to  them 
from  their  old  Teutonic  fathers,  not  delegating  "their 
authority  to  others,  but  acting  for  themselves  in 
every  important  point.  But  times  grew  worse.  The 
number  of  independent  yeomen  steadily  decreased : 
the  rich  and  influential  encroached  more  and  more 


WHY  THE  STORY  OF   VANE  IS  TIMELY.      559 

upon  the  rights  of  the  People :  the  Sovereigns,  who 
in  the  primitive  Teutonic  idea  were  the  ministers  of 
the  People,  elected  by  their  suffrages  to  execute  their 
will,  sought  to  become  absolute  masters.  The  arbi- 
trary Tudors  arrogated  to  themselves  authority  which 
the  Stuarts  in  their  turn  sought  to  make  perfect  des- 
potism. In  the  times  of  Cromwell  and  William  III, 
a  check  was  interposed :  it  was,  however,  only  a 
check,  not  a  reform.  Up  to  the  era  of  George  III 
there  had  been  no  restoration  of  liberty  to  the  People. 
Parliament,  so  far  from  being  derived  from  them,  de- 
pended upon  the  King  and  the  aristocracy,  and  had 
become  very  corrupt ;  the  towns  and  villages  through- 
out England  were  sometimes  practically  owned  by 
great  nobles  or  men  of  wealth,  sometimes  in  the 
hands  of  close  corporations  who  had  seized  on  all 
power,  allowing  to  the  individual  citizen  not  the 
smallest  voice  in  public  management.1 

Coeval  with  the  agitations  produced  by.  the  on- 
coming American  Revolution  came  to  Englishmen 
the  recognition  of  their  abasement  and  the  desire 
for  reform.  "  No  taxation  without  representation," 
cried  the  American  patriots,  and  in  a  year  or  two 
the  cry  became,  "  No  government  at  all  except  by  a 
legislature  in  which  our  representatives  sit."  Even 
while  England  fought  us  her  eyes  became  opened. 
Her  sense  of  justice  became  convinced  that  the  colo- 
nists had  been  right.  She  began  to  look  at  home,  at 
her  own  corrupt  Parliament  and  her  unrepresented 
millions.  "  Virtual  representation  —  that  they  have," 
she  tried  to  say.  "  They  cast  no  votes,  but  those  who 

1  May,  i.  ch.  vi.,  and  ii.  ch.  xv. 


560  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE. 

do,  act  for  them  and  protect  them."  England  saw  at 
last  that  it  was  all  a  subterfuge ;  the  better  scholar- 
ship of  the  modern  time  came  in  to  help,  making 
plain  to  all  the  old  Teutonic  principles  of  freedom 
which  had  been  so  long  overlaid.  It  was  remem- 
bered at  last  how  once  each  freeman  had  a  vote,  how 
Kings  and  Nobles  were  ministers,  not  masters,  how 
government  had  been  of  the  People,  by  the  People, 
and  for  the  People.  The  cry  for  reform  grew 
stronger.  The  fight  was  hard  through  the  first 
quarter  of  the  present  century,  the  Crown,  the 
Nobles,  the  Established  Church,  throwing  their 
weight  heavily  against.  Among  the  champions,  the 
name  of  Lord  John  Russell  is  honorably  prominent; 
with  him  as  leader,  was  passed  at  length  the  great 
Reform  Bill  of  1832,  which  with  its  subsequent  amend- 
ments has  made  England  practically  free  again. 

Was  the  American  Revolution  worth  while  ? 
Aside  from  all  gains  to  America  herself,  the  revolt 
brought  it  about  that  the  other  great  states  that  have 
preferred  to  remain  dependent  can  do  so,  with  no 
sacrifice  of  liberty.  The  revolt  of  America  was  per- 
haps the  salvation  of  England  herself. 

It  will,  however,  be  a  sad  day  for  America  if  -her 
people  ever  allow  themselves  to  be  so  far  swayed  by 
ancient  prejudice  or  the  foreign  influences  which 
have  been  poured  in  so  copiously  as  to  forget  that 
their  country  is  in  origin  English,  that  her  institu- 
tions are  the  bequest  of  bygone  English  generations, 
and  that  the  land  will  be  past  praying  for  if  she  for- 
gets the  mother  from  whom  she  drew  her  life.  To 


WHY  THE  STORY  OF   VANE  IS   TIMELY.      561 

such  an  extent  is  America  overswept,  stunned  on 
the  one  hand  by  the  Irish  cry,  weighted  in  another 
direction  by  inert  millions  just  released  from  slavery, 
threatened  in  still  another  by  an  Asiatic  inundation, 
penetrated  through  and  through  with  a  Teutonic  in- 
flux, which,  welcome  though  it  is,  and  closely  allied 
though  it  is,  cannot  undertake  her  free  life  without  a 
proces.5  of  assimilation  —  to  such  an  extent  is  America 
overswept  that  it  is  natural  for  thoughtful  men  of  the 
original  stock  to  feel  somewhat  insecure,  and  to  ask 
whether  it  may  not  some  day  be  desirable  and  pos- 
sible to  brace  themselves  by  entering  into  some  closer 
league  with  those  who,  in  spite  of  superficial  differ- 
ences, are  substantially  one  with  themselves. 

Said  Lowell  once :  "  I  remember  a  good  many 
years  ago  M.  Guizot  asked  me  how  long  I  thought 
the  American  Republic  was  going  to  last.  Said  I.: 
4  M.  Guizot,  it  will  last  just  so  long  as  the  traditions 
of  the  men  of  English  descent  who  founded  it  are 
dominant  there.'  And  he  assented.  And  that  is  my 
firm  faith."1 

At  the  Colonial  Exhibition  at  London  of  1886,  an 
exhibition  of  products  from  the  dependencies  of  the 
British  empire,  a  strong  impression  was  conveyed  to 
every  visitor  of  the  vast  extent  of  that  empire,  and 
its  enormous  resources.  But  to  the  American,  the 
thought  that  beyond  all  others  suggested  itself  was 
that,  so  far  as  the  English-speaking  dependencies 
went,  everything  plainly  told  of  a  life  identical  with 
that  which  we  lead  ourselves.  Such  clothing  we  also 
wear,  such  food  we  eat,  —  we  live  in  such  houses,  we 

1  At  Chicago,  Feb.  22,  1887. 


562  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE. 

travel  in  such  coaches.  Bed  and  chair,  boat  and 
book,  with  precisely  such  appliances  do  we  also  sleep 
and  sit,  sail  and  read.  A  group  of  men  pausing 
before  some  attractive  object,  might  easily  fall  into 
conversation.  A  Londoner  would  be  one ;  men  from 
Auckland,  Cape  Town,  Melbourne,  and  Montreal, 
would  be  others ;  still  another,  the  American.  To 
the  latter,  these  chance  companions  looked  and  acted 
scarcely  less  like  fellow-countrymen  than  his  next- 
door  neighbors.  Nor  was  the  resemblance  merely 
external.  If  the  talk  went  at  all  below  the  surface, 
the  American  found  that  the  mind  of  the  foreigner 
had  been  educated  by  the  same  methods,  fed  on  the 
same  literature,  nurtured  in  the  same  religious  faith, 
as  his  own  ;  and  that  in  the  polity  which  the  foreigner, 
as  a  citizen,  helped  to  administer,  the  same  popular 
government  prevails  as  that  of  which  Americans 
boast.  Why  should  these  men  be  foreigners  ?  was  a 
natural  thought.  Why  not  fellow-citizens  ?  In  blood, 
faith,  tongue,  and  political  institutions  we  are  one. 
Why  should  we  be  fenced  apart  in  isolated  groups  ? 
For  one  point  of  difference,  there  are  ten  points  of 
agreement. 

By  a  rough  estimate,  one  hundred  and  ten  million 
people  in  the  world  call  English  their  mother-tongue, 
in  institutions,  blood,  and  language,  for  the  most 
part,  derived  from  the  German  woods.  Until  one 
hundred  years  ago,  the  English-speaking  race  was 
confined  within  one  nationality.  Then,  in  conse- 
quence of  a  bad  colonial  policy,  a  split  took  place, 
so  that  to-day  the  world  has  two  English-speaking 
divisions  of  about  equal  strength,  the  British  empire 


WHY  THE  STORY  OF  VANE  IS  TIMELY.      563 

and  the  United  States  of  America.  A  large  propor- 
tion of  Englishmen,  one  hundred  years  ago,  objected 
to  the  policy  which  alienated  America ;  it  was  soon 
bitterly  repented  of  by  the  men  in  power,  and  at 
length  utterly  abandoned.  The  institutions  set  up 
by  America  differed,  as  Sir  Henry  Maine  has  power- 
fully shown,1  only  in  superficial  ways  from  those  of 
England.  The  President  of  the  United  States  has, 
under  the  Constitution,  the  powers  of  an  English 
King  of  the  eighteenth  century  —  of  George  III  in 
fact ;  the  only  differences  lie  here,  that  the  President 
is  elected,  instead  of  being  born  to  wield  them,  and 
wields  them  for  a  short  term  of  years,  instead  of 
for  life.  The  House  of  Representatives  differs  not 
greatly  from  the  House  of  Commons  in  its  powers 
and  functions,  and  as  regards  the  manner  in  which 
members  are  returned.  In  respect  to  the  Senate  and 
Supreme  Court,  the  American  departure  from  Eng- 
lish ways  is  wider.  The  Senate,  however,  has  its 
analogue,  though  not  its  counterpart,  in  the  House  of 
Lords;  and  the  Supreme  Court  is  based  upon  and 
ruled  by  traditions  of  English  jurisprudence.2  If  we 
look  at  local  self-government,  the  apparatus  of  town- 
ship and  county,  the  country  over,  is  based  upon 
English  traditions,  the  departure  being  slighter  than 
in  the  case  of  the  more  comprehensive  institutions. 
Moreover,  as  the  difference  in  politics  was  slight  at 
the  outset,  circumstances  have  since  so  wrought,  that 
not  greater  difference  but  greater  similarity  exists 
now  between  child  and  mother-land.  England  of 

1  Popular  Government,  ch.  "American  Constitution." 

2  See  p.  444,  note. 


564  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY   VANE. 

herself  has  tended  toward  freedom,  and  this  tendency, 
promoted  by  a  powerful  and  constantly  increasing 
reaction  from  America,  has  brought  it  about  that  at 
the  present  hour  the  people  of  England,  as  repre- 
sented in  the  Commons,  have  really  more  power  than 
the  people  of  the  United  States  ;  while  in  the  great 
dependencies  of  England,  as  we  have  seen,  the  re- 
semblance in  institutions  is  still  more  close.  As 
methods  for  abridging  distance  are  constantly  bring- 
ing the  world  more  closely  together,  it  must  be  the 

case  that  the  world  will  see  more  and   more  how 

« 

much  better  it  is  for  nations  to  be  mutually  bound 
together  than  proudly  apart.  It  can  scarcely  be 
doubted  that  the  different  bodies  of  the  English- 
speaking  race,  so  substantially  one  to-day  in  blood, 
tongue,  and  institutions,  will  some  time  and  in  some 
way  blend.  The  townships  make  up  the  county, 
the  counties  the  States,  the  States  the  United  States. 
What  is  to  hinder  a  further  extension  of  the  federal 
principle,  so  that  at  length  we  may  have  a  vaster 
United  States,  whose  members  shall  be,  as  empire 
state,  America,  then  the  mother,  England,  and  lastly 
the  great  English  dependencies,  so  populous  and 
thoroughly  developed  that  they  may  fitly  stand  coor- 
dinate ?  It  cannot  be  said  that  this  is  an  unreason- 
able or  Utopian  anticipation.  Dependence  was  right 
in  its  day :  but  for  English  help,  colonial  America 
would  have  become  a  province  of  France.  Indepen- 
dence was  and  is  right.  It  was  well  for  us,  and  for 
Britain  too,  that  we  were  split  apart.  Washington, 
as  the  main  agent  in  the  separation,  is  justly  the  most 
venerated  name  in  our  history.  But  Inter-dependence, 


WHY  THE  STORY  OF   VANE  IS  TIMELY.      565 

too,  will  in  its  day  be  right ;  and  greater  than  Wash- 
ington will  be  that  statesman  of  the  future  who  shall 
reconstitute  the  family-bond,  conciliate  the  members 
into  an  equal  brotherhood,  found  the  vaster  union 
which  must  be  the  next  great  step  toward  the  uni- 
versal fraternity  of  man,  when  patriotism  can  be 
merged  into  a  love  that  can  take  in  all  humanity. 

Such  suggestions  as  have  just  been  made  are  per- 
haps scarcely  likely  to  be  well  received  either  by 
Englishmen  or  Americans.  We  are  sharply  sun- 
dered. If  England  can  turn  a  penny  at  America's 
expense,  she  is  nothing  loth  to  do  it.  If  America 
can  supplant  England  in  the  good-will  of  a  valued 
customer,  the  mother-land  is  certain  to  be  shouldered 
out  with  little  ceremony.  Fifty  years  after  the  close 
of  the  American  Revolution,  De  Tocqueville  wrote : 
"  It  is  impossible  to  imagine  a  hatred  more  venomous 
than  that  of  the  Americans  against  the  English." 
A  hundred  years  have  now  passed,  but  to  many 
Americans  to-day  the  name  British,  more  than  any 
'other,  is  one  of  contempt  and  dislike.  It  is  a  disagree- 
able survival  of  the  revolutionary  struggle,  reinforced 
in  later  years  by  Irish  prejudice,  which  for  years  to 
come,  no  doubt,  will  affect  our  relations  with  those 
who  speak  the  same  tongue  with  ourselves,  and  are 
really  flesh  of  our  flesh.  Inveterate  prejudices  exist 
on  both  sides,  a  narrow  national  feeling  exists  on 
both  sides,  which  is  nothing  but  an  expansion  of 
selfishness. 

1  "  II  est  impossible  d'imaginer  Anglais."  Quoted  by  J.  Bryce, 
une  haine  plus  venemeuse  que  Johns  Hopkins,  Hist,  and  Polit. 
celle  des  Ame'ricains  contre  les  Stud.  5th  Series,  No.  ix.  p.  50. 


566  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE. 

But  if  the  considerations  thus  presented  are  sound, 
if  American  freedom  is  British  freedom  at  bottom, 
and  if  a  closer  drawing  together  of  the  great  Eng- 
lish-speaking world  so  scattered  in  various  homes 
into  some  kind  of  a  federation  is  a  thing  to  be  de- 
sired and  labored  for,  how  suitable  at  present  will 
be  the  effort  to  mitigate  the  inveterate  prejudices 
which  stand  in  the  way  of  such  a  coming  together, 
and  to  illustrate  the  identity,  so  often  unrecognized, 
of  the  principles  upon  which  rest  the  structures  of 
British  and  American  liberty  ! 

How  can  a  presentment  in  this  spirit  be  made  con- 
crete and  vivid  ?  How  better  than  by  setting  forth 
the  career  of  some  one  great  man,  if  such  a  one  can 
be  found,  who  was  at  once  an  Englishman  and  an 
American  ?  Such  a  figure  there  is,  who  may  well  at 
the  present  hour  be  brought  forth  from  the  obscurity 
which  has  fallen  upon  him  —  Sir  Henry  Vane  the 
younger.  We  have  seen  him  begin  his  public  career 
in  1636  as  a  citizen  of  Massachusetts,  where  in  the 
position  of  Governor  he  fought  stoutly  against  the 
other  colonial  magnates  for  a  free  toleration  of  all  re- 
ligious beliefs.  Returned  to  England,  we  have  seen 
him  at  the  outset  of  the  Long  Parliament,  the  chief 
reliance  of  Pym  in  bringing  Strafford  to  destruction. 
In  1643  he  brought  the  Scots  to  help  the  sinking 
cause  of  the  Parliament.  As  much  to  him  as  to 
Cromwell  was  due  the  victory  of  Marston  Moor.'per- 
haps  also  the  victory  of  Naseby,  successes  which  in 
the  Civil  War  turned  the  scale  against  the  Stuart 
despotism.  He  was  the  heart  of  the  Rump  and  the 
Council  of  State  when  Cromwell  smote  Ireland  and 


WHY  THE  STORY  OF   VANE  IS  TIMELY.      567 

won  the  fields  of  Dunbar  and  Worcester.  He  reor- 
ganized and  administered  the  Navy  when  Van  Tromp 
and  De  Ruyter  were  on  the  point  of  sweeping  it 
from  the  seas,  —  standing  back  of  Blake  when  Eng- 
land won  the  empire  of  the  deep,  as  the  elder  Pitt 
stood  back  of  Wolfe  and  the  younger  Pitt  back  of 
Nelson.  First  of  men,  we  have  seen  him,  in  1656, 
recommend  the  expedient  of  a  Constitutional  Con- 
vention, that  the  People,  after  the  American  fashion, 
might  lay  down  for  themselves  the  "  fundamentals  " 
of  a  proper  polity. 

From  the  day  when  scarcely  more  than  a  boy  he 
defended  Anne  Hutchinson  in  Massachusetts,  to  the 
day  when  yet  in  his  full  strength  he  serenely  laid 
his  head  upon  the  block  on  Tower-hill  by  command 
of  Charles  II,  he  consecrated  the  whole  force  of  ex- 
traordinary powers  to  the  expounding  and  vindica- 
tion of  what  he  held  to  be  English  freedom,  over- 
laid by  accretions  which  were  in  reality  foreign  to 
it.  If  the  principles  for  which  he  lived  and  died  are 
examined,  it  will  be  found  that  they  are  no  less  pre- 
cious to  Americans  than  to  Englishmen.  "  Govern- 
ment of  the  People,  by  the  People,  and  for  the  Peo- 
ple," the  famous  sentence  of  Abraham  Lincoln's 
Gettysburg  address,  was  also  the  fundamental  thought 
with  young  Sir  Harry  Vane.  One  by  one  England 
has  adopted  and  is  adopting  the  reforms  which  he 
proclaimed  to  be  necessary  in  order  that  the  state 
should  rest  upon  the  substructure  fitted  for  it,  —  the 
extension  of  the  suffrage,  the  transformation  of  the 
Upper  House,  the  disestablishment  of  the  Church, 
—  the  doing  away  with  every  privilege  of  faith  and 


568  YOUNG  SIR  HENRY  VANE. 

class  that  stands  in  the  path  of  toleration  and  fair 
equality,  —  the  utter  committing  of  power  to  the 
hands  of  the  People  assembled  in  their  representa- 
tives in  the  great  national  Council.  As  in  England 
and  her  dependencies  the  power  of  the  People  grows, 
a  process  which  we  see  going  forward  without  break, 
that  noble  Commonwealth  becomes  more  and  more 
manifest  which  Vane  prematurely  tried  and  died  to 
bring  to  pass.  For  and  in  England  he  struggled, 
when  America  was  scarcely  in  embryo,  but  no  states- 
man more  soundly  American  can  be  named  than  he. 
His  American  biographer,  Upham,  has  well  said : 
"  His  name  is  the  most  appropriate  link  to  bind  us 
to  the  land  of  our  fathers.  It  presents  more,  per- 
haps, than  any  that  could  be  mentioned,  in  one  char- 
acter, those  features  and  traits  by  which  it  is  our 
pride  to  prove  our  lineage  and  descent  from  the  Brit- 
ish Isles." 

"Vane,  young  in  years,  but  in  sage  counsel  old, 
Than  whom  a  better  senator  ne'er  held 
The  helm." 

So  wrote  John  Milton  at  the  time  when  the  fleets  of 
Blake,  equipped  and  marshalled  by  Vane's  guiding 
genius,  thundered  for  the  Commonwealth.  Thorough 
Englishman,  thorough  American,  his  mind  possessed 
by  no  obsolete  ideas,  but  with  ideas  so  vital  at  the 
present  moment,  the  figure  of  this  half-forgotten  mar- 
tyr of  freedom  can  well  be  brought  forward  in'  the 
hour  in  which  English-speaking  men  are  beginning 
to  feel,  that 

"  When  love  unites  wide  space  divides  in  vain, 
And  hands  may  clasp  across  the  flowing  main." 


INDEX. 


AGITATORS,  representatives  of  the  rank  and 

file  of  the  Army,  267-8. 

Agreement  of  the  People,  work  of  the  Agita- 
tors, 277 ;  abstract  of,  278-80. 
Agreement  of  the  People,  the  2d  one,  Ireton's 

work,  319-21. 

Alfred,  King,  a  popular  reformer,  85. 
Allen,   Adjutant,   his    account   of    the  Army 

prayer-meeting  in  1648,  287-292. 
America,  its  influence  in  forming  Vane,  163 ; 

gives  rise  to  Independency,   164,  166 ;  the 

English  foundations  of,  560. 
Americanism,  of  the  Ironsides,  277  etc. ;   of 

the  programme  of  the  Commonwealth,  312 

etc. 

American  England,  310. 
American    Revolution,   was  it  worth  while? 

547  etc. 

Antinomian,  see  Mrs.  Anne  Hutchinson. 
Anthony  a  Wood,  on  Marten's  wit,  190;  his 

judgment  of  Vane,  484;  on  Stubbe,  490. 
Argyle,  Marquis  of,  favors   Solemn  League 

and  Covenant  in   1643,    '85 ;   a  friend  of 

Vane,  favors  the    New  Model,   235,  238  ; 

heads  Scotland  against  the  Independents  in 

1648,  323-4- 
Army,  see  Ironsides. 

Armyne,  Sir  William,  commissioner  in  Scot- 
land in  1643,  173. 
Ascham,   ambassador,  murdered    at  Madrid, 

1649,  338. 

Ascue,  naval  commander,  334. 

Astley,  Sir  Jacob,  his  prayer  at  Edgehill,  154; 
commands  King's  centre  at  Naseby,  245, 
248 ;  captured  by  the  Roundheads,  254-5. 

Australia,  present  position  and  free  institu- 
tions of,  554-5. 

BACON,  NATHANIBL,  his  Laws  and  Govern- 
ment of  England,  404,  note. 

Baillie,  Scotch  commissioner  to  England,  in 
1641,  describes  in  his  Letters  and  Journals 
discord  of  Lords  and  Commons  at  Straf- 


ford's  trial,  119;  on  Vane's  testimony,  120; 
on  John  Cotton  as  the  father  of  Indepen- 
dency, 167-8  ;  on  the  passing  of  the  Solemn 
League  and  Covenant,  175  etc. ;  a  commis- 
sioner to  England  in  1643,  187  J  ou  discovery 
of  Violett's  plot,  195-6 ;  troubled  by  Indepen- 
dency, 1644,  228  9;  describes  the  progress 
of  Independency,  1645,  261-2. 

Ballads,  relating  to  Vane,  487-9. 

Baptists,  as  founders  of  Toleration,  170. 

Baxter,  on  the  leadership  of  Vane  in  1643,  191 ; 
on  the  origin  of  the  Self-Denying  Ordi- 
nance, 231 ;  his  judgment  on  Vane,  482-3. 

Bayne,  Peter,  on  the  character  of  old  Sir 
Henry  Vane,  126;  on  the  Retired  Man's 
Meditations,  499. 

Bill  of  Portland,  sea-fight  off,  384  etc. 

Biographia  Britannica,  its  judgment  on  Vane, 
484. 

Blackstone,  on  the  non-existence  of  an  Eng- 
lish Constitution,  435. 

Blake,  Robert,  Colonel  and  Admiral,  in  Parlia- 
ment, 1645,  256  i  made  a  General  of  the 
Fleet,  331 ;  letter  to,  respecting  Rupert,  338; 
defeats  Rupert  at  sea,  368 ;  action  with 
Dutch  off  Dover,  1652,  371 ;  directed  by  the 
Council  of  State,  372  ;  wounded,  374 ;  his 
character,  385  ;  his  training  as  a  sailor,  386 ; 
his  great  fight  with  Van  Tromp,  389  etc. ; 
awes  Denmark,  avenges  the  Vaudois  peas- 
ants, awes  Italy,  394 ;  humbles  the  Barbary 
pirates,  disciplines  Spain,  395 ;  his  battle  of 
Santa  Cruz,  396 ;  his  death,  397 ;  his  alleged 
regret  at  the  fall  of  the  Rump,  415. 

Bloudy  Tenent  of  Persecution,  of  Roger  Wil- 
liams, 171. 

Blue  Boar  Inn,  Cromwell  and  Ireton  at,  1647, 

273-4- 

Boston,  appearance  of,  in  1635,  19. 

"  Boy,"  Rupert's  dog  at  Marston  Moor,  218. 

Bradshaw,  a  leading  Republican  in  1649,  325 ; 
president  of  the  Council  of  State,  328;  his 
sense  of  the  difficulties  in  1630,  342 ;  disci- 


570 


INDEX. 


plined  by  Cromwell,  1656,  449;  in  Richard's 

Parliament,  1659,  459. 
"  Brederode,"  Van  Tromp:s  flagship  in  1653, 

388 ;  her  action  with  the  "  Triumph,"  389  ; 

boarded  and  blown  up,  393-4. 
Brentford,  Earl  of,  a  Royalist  commander,  205. 
Brooke,  Lord,  interested  in  Connecticut,  40 ; 

a  friend  of  the  Separatists,  116;  under  the 

influence  of  Vane,  483. 
Brooke,    Sir  Basil,   Catholic    intriguer,  1644, 

194-5- 
Bryce,  Professor  James,  on  the  Supreme  Court 

of  the  United  States,  444,  note. 
Buckle,  on  the  American  Revolution  as  saving 

England,  557-8. 
Bulkeley,  Rev.   Peter,  his  high  connections, 

2 1  ;  a  founder  of  Concord,  38. 
Bunyan,  John,  captured  at  Leicester,  1645,  241. 
Burnet,  Bishop,  his  judgment  on  Vane,  485. 
Burtorfs  Diary,  its  testimony  as  to  Vane  in 

1659,  461. 

CANADA,  present  position  and  institutions  of, 
553- 

Cape  Colony,  present  position  and  institutions 
of,  553- 

Capel,  Lord,  against  Strafford  in  1641,  115; 
executed  as  a  Royalist,  1649,  330. 

Carisbrook  Castle,  prison  of  Charles  I,  275 ; 
of  Vane,  description  of,  452. 

Carlisle,  Scots  at,  1648,  294. 

Carlyle,  description  of  the  Battle  of  Dunbar, 
347-8;  of  Cromwell  as  Protector,  445 ;  of 
Vane,  492—3. 

Carne worth,  Earl  of,  foils  the  King's  bravery 
at  Naseby,  250. 

Carterett,  his  testimony  as  to  Vane's  influence 
in  1641,  145. 

Case  of  the  Whole  A  rmy,  277. 

Cavaliers,  the  name  appears,  138  ;  their  char- 
acter, 149 ;  defeated  at  Marston  Moor,  212 
etc. ;  at  Naseby,  243  etc. ;  under  Astley, 
255  ;  in  arms  in  1648,  285-6. 

Charles  I,  his  accession,  3  ;  pokes  for  young 
Harry  with  his  cane,  10 ;  his  appearance  and 
character,  90-1 ;  quarrels  with  Short  Parlia- 
ment, 99;  knights  Vane,  102;  at  Strafford's 
trial,  118;  promises  to  save  Strafford's  life, 
132  ;  yields  to  his  death,  134  ;  journey  to 
Scotland,  1641,  137;  demands  the  Five 
Members,  139  ;  incidents  at  Theobald's  and 
Newmarket,  146-8 ;  sets  up  his  standard  at 
Nottingham,  150;  at  Edgehill,  153,  156; 
threatens  London,  withdraws  to  Oxford, 
157;  meets  Fairfax  on  Heyworth  Moor,  158; 
intrigues  to  compromise  Vane,  192-3 ;  in- 
trigues with  London  Catholics  in  1643-4, 
194-5,  w'th  Catholics  in  Ireland,  204 ;  his 


good  generalship  in  1644, 205 ;  defeats  Essex, 
227 ;  encouraged  by  success  of  Montrose, 
235 ;  ridicules  the  New  Model,  storms  Lei- 
cester, 241  ;  at  Naseby,  243,  247,  250;  his 
correspondence  captured,  251  ;  his  intrigues 
after  Naseby,  254 ;  his  letters  to  Vane,  1646, 
263-4 ;  flees  to  the  Scots,  265 ;  seized  by 
Joyce,  268  ;  rejects  the  Heads  of  Proposals, 
272 ;  his  treachery  discovered  by  Cromwell 
and  Ireton,  273  ;  flees  to  the  Isle  of  Wight, 
275;  forms  a  league  with  the  Scots,  276; 
negotiates  with  Parliament,  1648,  299;  his 
duplicity,  impresses  Vane,  300;  his  death, 
3M- 

Charles  II,  blockades  the  Thames,  1648,  286; 
proclaimed  King  at  Edinburgh,  1649,  324« 
arrives  in  Scotland,  345  ;  marches  for  Eng- 
land, 1651,  353;  defeated  at  Worcester,  360  ; 
restored,  1660,  479;  finds  Vane  too  danger- 
ous to  live,  524-5.  f 

Charles  Louis,  Prince  Palatine,  plan  to  raise 
him  to  the  throne,  1644,  206. 

Chillingworth,  believes  in  Toleration,  170. 

Christian,  on  non-existence  of  English  Con- 
stitution, 435-6. 

Clarendon,  Earl  of,  his  History  of  the  Re- 
bellion, on  the  Short  Parliament,  100;  ac- 
tive with  Falkland  against  ship-money,  113; 
describes  the  Vanes  at  Strafford's  trial,  121- 
5;  injustice  of  his  narrative,  126;  takes  sides 
with  the  King,  138;  characterizes  Vane, 
143-4;  on  the  siege  of  Gloucester,  174;  on 
the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant,  1 78-9 ; 
gives  Vane's  speech  on  the  Self-Denying 
Ordinance,  232-4 ;  gives  Vane's  speech  at 
end  of  1648,  308-9  ;  on  Vane  and  Haselrig, 
1659,  460;  describes  desertion  of  Committee 
of  Safety  by  Lawson,  1659,  476;  his  judg- 
ment of  Vane,  485-6. 

Claypole,  Lady,  Cromwell's  favorite  daughter, 
death  of,  456. 

Cleveland,  Harry  Vane,  Duke  of,  1832,  2. 

Coke,  Sir  Edward,  patron  of  Roger  Williams, 
25;  on  fundamental  principles  superior  to 
Kings  and  Parliaments.  435,  note.  • 

Coke,  Roger,  his  tribute  to  the  greatness  of 
the  Rump.  416. 

Colchester,  siege  of,  1648,  293. 

Committee  of  Both  Kingdoms  established,  199. 
See  Derby  House  Committee.  • 

Committee  for  the  new  settlement  of  the  na- 
tion, 1649,  332  ;  meets  often,  339  ;  reports  in 
favor  of  Ireton's  plan,  1650,  341 ;  invites 
help  of  Cromwell,  after  Worcester,  365  ;  ac- 
tive in  1653,  403. 

Committee  of  Safety  of  1642,  200:  of  1659,  475, 

Commons,  House  of,  appearance  of,  97-8. 

Connecticut,  Constitution  of  1639,  439. 


INDEX. 


571 


Constitution,  the  Written,  unique  feature  of 
American  polity,  434-5 ;  its  value,  praised 
by  M.  G.  Hammond,  436 ;  by  Sir  Henry 
Maine,  437 ;  history  of  the  idea  of,  438  ;  must 

.  originate  with  the  People,  438-9  connec- 
tion of  Commonwealthsmen  with  the  idea, 
440 ;  of  Vane,  441-4. 

Constitution,  English,  development  of,  83-8 ; 
Vane  recommends,  1656,  plan  for  a  written, 
441-4 ;  his  plan  in  1659,  475. 

Convention  Parliament,  see  Parliament. 

Convocation,  sustains  the  claims  of  the  King, 
1640,  103. 

Cotton,  Rev.  John,  his  Calvinism,  21 ;  origin 
of  and  emigration  to  New  England,  29  ;  as 
a  poet,  30;  a  friend  of  Cromwell,  his  per- 
sonal characteristics,  31 ;  lives  with  Vane, 
47;  liked  by  Mrs.  Anne  Hutchinson,  48; 
takes  her  side,  49;  his  views  described  by 
Winthrop,  54 ;  whitewashes  the  situation  in 
the  Hutchinsonian  Controversy,  57;  states 
the  differences,  70 ;  the  father  of  Indepen- 
dency, 167;  his  works  and  influence  over 
great  men,  167-9. 

Council  of  State,  of  the  Commonwealth,  goes 
into  operation,  1649,  326  ;  its  constitution, 
327-8;  second  year  of,  341  ;  third  year  of, 
its  standing  Committees,  366 ;  abolished  by 
Cromwell,  April  20,  1653,  412. 

Covenanters,  at  Marston  Moor,  215.  See 
Scots. 

Coventry,  Parliamentary  standard  unfurled  at, 
151. 

Cromwell,  Henry,  dislikes  Vane,  428 ;  retires 
to  private  life  in  1659,  473. 

Cromwell.  Oliver,  described  by  Sir  Philip  War- 
wick, 114;  connected  with  bill  for  abolish- 
ing Episcopacy,   141 ;  begins  to  rise  in  the 
field,  159 ;  his  talk  to  Hampden  about  mak- 
ing an  effective  Army,  159-60:  becomes  a 
leader  of  the  Independents,  166 ;  a  friend  of 
John  Cotton,  168  ;  position  of,  at  the  death 
of  Pym,  191 ;  favors  deposition  of  the  King, 
1644,   207;    commands  cavalry  of  the  left  , 
wing  at  Marston  Moor,  214  ;  his  array,  216;  I 
re'sume  of  his  earlier  career,  216 ;  overthrows  . 
Rupert,  221-2;  comes  to  the  relief  of  the  ; 
right  wing,  223 ;  named  "  Ironside  "  by  Ru-  i 
pert,  224;  his  Independency  revealed,  228;   < 
denounces  Manchester,  231 ;  his  connection 
with  the    Self-Denying  Ordinance,  231-2, 
234;  denounces  the   Lords,   236;   excepted 
from  the    Self-Denying    Ordinance,   made 
Lieutenant-General,  239;  joins  Fairfax  be- 
fore- Naseby,  242 ;  commands  the  right  wing, 
245;  routs  Sir  Marmaduke  Langdale,  248; 
strikes  Cavalier  Centre,  249  ;  in  the  pursuit, 
250 ;  desires  to  pull  Presbyterians  out  of 


Parliament  by  the  ears,  267 ;  marches  with 
the  Army  through  London,  270 ;  impressed 
by  the  King,  272  ;  suppresses  a  mutiny,  273  ; 
at  the  Blue  Boar  Inn  with  Ireton,  273-4  i 
the  cushion-throwing  with  Ludlow,  284 ;  his 
march  to  Wales,  1648,  294 ;  steps  taken  to 
impeach  him,  marches  to  Preston,  295  ;  bat- 
tle of  Preston,  296;  his  love  for  Vane,  299; 
approves  Pride's  Purge,  310;  parallel  be- 
tween, and  Abraham  Lincoln,  314-15  ;  scene 
with  Lilburne,  323  ;  quells  insurrection,  331; 
his  campaign  in  Ireland,  331,  337 ;  campaign 
of  Dunbar,  345-9 ;  thinks  of  Vane  at  the 
most  desperate  hour,  347  ;  letter  to  his  wife, 
350;  his  illness,  1651,  351 ;  desires  union  of 
England  with  Holland,  352 ;  eluded  by  the 
Scots,  353  ;  his  march  southward,  354 ;  finds 
Vane  "  in  principles  too  high  to  fathom." 
357-8;  his  victory  at  Worcester,  congratu- 
lated by  the  Council  of  State,  360-1 ;  his  de- 
sire for  a  settlement  of  the  nation,  365 ;  his 
inactivity,  1652,  367 ;  his  toleration,  368 ;  a 
source  of  anxiety  to  the  Rump,  400 ;  be- 
comes hostile  to  the  Rump,  401 ;  opposed  to 
Vane's  plan  for  a  new  Parliament,  402 ;  his 
probable  uneasiness  at  the  rise  of  Blake, 
403 ;  meets  chiefs  of  the  Rump,  405 ;  at  St. 
Stephen's,  April  20,  1653,  406;  dissolution 
of  the  Rump,  Ludlow's  account,  408-10 ; 
Algernon  Sidney's  account,  411 ;  carries  off 
the  Act  of  Dissolution,  412 ;  his  high  motive 
in  assuming  autocracy,  413;  his  career  as 
dictator,  414;  his  position,  1653,  418;  his 
yearning  for  Vane,  427  ;  described  as  Pro- 
tector by  Carlyle,  445  ;  his  portrait  by  Hou- 
braken,  446 ;  addressed  by  Vane  from  Caris- 
brook,  1656,  450-1;  his  later  career,  454; 
Milton's  panegyric  upon,  455 ;  his  last  days 
and  death,  456-7;  compared  with  Vane, 
496-8. 

Cromwell,  Richard,  becomes  Protector,  1658, 
457 ;  denounced  by  Vane,  466-7 ;  abdicates, 
known  as  "  Tumble-Down  Dick,"  471. 

DARCY,  FRANCES,  mother  of  young  Sir  Henry 
Vane,  3. 

Davenport,  Rev.  John,  writes  concerning 
Vane's  fanaticism,  432-3. 

Dean,  General  of  the  Fleet,  331 ;  on  the  com- 
mittee for  incorporating  Scotland,  362  ;  with 
Blake  against  Van  Tromp,  387 ;  his  torn 
breeches,  390 ;  his  death,  393 ;  condemns 
the  Rump,  415. 

Derby  House,  Committee  at,  executive  of 
Parliament,  202  ;  Order- Books  of,  202-3  ; 
sends  Vane  to  York,  1644,  205 ;  misses  his 
presence,  207 ;  directs  operations  of  the  New 
Model,  239,  241 ;  Scotch  members  abandon 


572 


INDEX. 


it  in  1648,  284  ;  its  power,  283 ;  its  boldness 

in  1648,  287,  297. 
Dering,  Sir  Edward,  introduces  the  bill  for  the 

abolition  of  Episcopacy,  141. 
De  Ruyter,  with  Van  Tromp  against  Blake, 

388  ;  his  fight  with  the  "  Prosperous,"  390. 
Desborough,     with     Cromwell     against    the 

Rump,    1653,  402 ;    with   the  Wallingford- 

House  Party,  1659,  469. 
De  Tocqueville,  on  the  non-existence  of  the 

English  Constitution,  435  j  his  error  as  to 

the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United   States, 

444,  note ;  on  American  hatred  of  England, 

565. 

D'Ewes,  Sir  Symonds,  his  Diary,  on  seating 
the  House  of  Commons,  1640,  105;  on  the 
influence  of  Vane,  1642,  145 ;  on  the  passage 
between  Vane  and  Essex,  161-2. 

Don  Juan  Lamberto,  satire  in  which  Vane  ap- 
pears, 486. 

Dorislaus,  ambassador  to  the  Hague,  mur- 
dered, 1649,  336. 

Dudley,  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  his  intolerance, 
20 ;  a  veteran  soldier,  43. 

Dunbar,  campaign  of,  1650,  345-9. 

ECHARD,  Royalist  historian,  on  Vane  and  the 
King  at  Theobald's,  1642,  146-7 ;  on  the 
negotiation  of  the  Solemn  League  and  Cov- 
enant, 1 80- 1. 

Edgehill,  view  from,  152;  battle  of,  153  etc. 

Edwards,  describes  the  sectaries  in  the  "  Gan- 
graena,"  257. 

Eikon  Basilike,  alleged  spiritual  autobiog- 
raphy of  Charles  I,  316. 

Eikonoklastes,  Milton's  reply  to  the  Eikon 
Basilike,  340. 

Eliot,  Sir  John,  dies  in  prison,  92. 

Endicott,  goes  against  the  Indians,  1636,  44. 

Engagement,  under  the  Commonwealth,  337. 

English  Channel,  description  of,  382-3;  its 
historic  associations,  384;  battle  in,  between 
Blake  and  Van  Tromp,  389  etc. 

Epistle  to  the  Scattered  Seed  of  Christ,  ex- 
tract from,  431. 

Epitaph  for  Vane,  street  ballad  of  the  Resto- 
ration, 489. 

Essex,  Earl  of,  pitiless  to  Strafford,  134;  takes 
command  of  forces  of  the  Parliament,  1642, 
150;  scored  by  Vane  for  sluggishness,  161 ; 
his  reply,  162;  weary  of  war,  1643,  174;  de- 
feated, 1644,  by  the  King,  227. 

FAIRFAX,  LORD,  a  Parliamentary  commander, 
159.  See  Sir  Thomas  Fairfax. 

Fairfax,  Sir  Thomas,  friend  of  Captain  John 
Mason,  68 ;  refuses  to  read  the  letters  of  the 
King  captured  at  Naseby,  129,  251 ;  his  first 


meeting  with  the  King  at  Heyworth  Moor, 
158;  his  victory  at  Nantwich,  204;  com- 
mands the  right  at  Marston  Moor,  214;  his 
prowess  and  ill  success,  219,  223;  at  the 
head  of  the  New  Model,  235;  demands  the 
exemption  of  Cromwell  from  the  Self-Deny- 
ing Orditiance,  239;  reconnoitres  before 
Naseby,  242 ;  at  the  battle  of  Naseby,  243- 
4,  249 ;  enters  Parliament,  1645,  256 ;  be- 
comes Lord  Fairfax,  in  the  second  civil  war, 
1648,  293;  ill  at  ease  at  the  course  of  the 
Independents,  in  Pride's  Purge  and  the  exe- 
cution of  the  King,  313  ;  member  of  Council 
of  State,  328 ;  quells  a  mutiny,  1649,  331 ; 
withdraws  from  public  life,  342. 

Faithorne,  his  portrait  of  Vane,  14,  note. 

Falkland,  active  against  the  demand  for  ship- 
money,  113;  sides  with  the  King,  138. 

Feudalism,  in  England,  influence  of  the  Nor- 
man Conquest  in  developing,  85. 

Fiennes,  Nathaniel,  an  Independent  leader, 
262;  becomes  reactionary,  1648,  306. 

Fifth  Monarchy,  Vane  attached  to  the  idea  of, 
429-431. 

Five  Members,  Charles  I  attempts  to  seize 
the,  1642,  139. 

Fleetwood,  in  Parliament,  1645,  256;  with 
Cromwell  against  the  Rump,  402 ;  head  of 
the  Wallingford  House  Party,  1658,457-8; 
Lieutenant-Genera],  471;  on  the  Committee 
of  Safety,  475 ;  becomes  weak-kneed,  476. 

Fortescue,  cited  by  Vane  at  his  trial,  517-18. 

Fox,  George,  the  Quaker,  his  account  of 
Cromwell's  last  ride,  456. 

Fox,  Charles  James,  on  the  value  of  the  Amer- 
ican Revolution  to  liberty,  557. 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  long  opposed  to  Amer- 
ican Independence,  549. 

Frost,  Gualter,  secretary  of  the  Derby  House 
Committee,  202 ;  of  the  Council  of  State, 
328. 

Froude,  on  the  value  to  the  individual  of  be- 
ing a  citizen  of  a  great  country,  551-2. 

Fuller,  Old,  adopts  Toleration,  170. 

GALLOP,  JOHN,  his  sea-fight  off  Block  Island, 
41- 

Gardiner,  Samuel  Rawson,  his  judgment  on 
Vane  in  New  England,  77  ;  value  of  his  con- 
sideration of  Strafford's  trial,  131,  note;  on 
the  significance  of  the  Committee  of  the 
Two  Kingdoms,  202. 

Gardner,  Lion,  veteran  in  command  at  Say- 
brook,  43. 

Garrard,  correspondent  of  Strafford,  writes  of 
Vane's  going  to  New  England,  12 ;  writes 
of  his  return,  88. 

Geneva,  Vane  probably  there  in  his  youth,  7-8. 


INDEX. 


573 


"  George,"  the  ship,  death  of  Blake  on,  397. 
George  III,  England  during  the  reign  of,  558- 

60. 

Gloucester,  siege  of,  1643,  174. 
Glyn,  lawyer  prominent  at  StrafEord's  trial, 

118;  Presbyterian  leader,  1645,256;  at  the 

trial  of  Vane,  508-9. 
Gneist,  Dr.  Rudolph,  on  the  ideas  of  Charles 

I,  91 ;  on  the  prematureness  of  the  ideas  of 

the  Commonwealth,  415. 
Godwin,  as  to  Vane's  want  of  frankness,  1645, 

238-9 ;  as  to  the  management  in  the  creation 

of  the  nobles,  262-3. 
Goffe,  Major,  at  the  Ironside  prayer-meeting, 

1648,  291 ;  at  Dunbar,  349. 
Goodwin,  Dr.  Thomas,  a  leader  of  the  Inde- 
pendents,  166 ;   influenced  by  John  Cotton, 

168. 
Goring,  reveals  to  Pym  a  plot,  119 ;  commands 

Royalist  left  at  Marston  Moor,  218. 
Grand  Remonstrance,  passed,  1641,  138. 
Grand  Army  Remonstrance,  1648,  302-5. 
Green,  John  Richard,  on  modern  England  as 

realizing  the   Independent  programme,  90, 

546. 

Grey,  of  Warke,  Lord,  appointed  Scotch  com- 
missioner, 1643,  and  refuses,  173. 
Grenville,  favors  American  representation  in 

British  Parliament,  550. 
Guilds,  charters  of  medizval,  their  relation  to 

a  Written  Constitution,  438. 

HADLOW,  in  Kent,  birthplace  of  Vane,  3. 

Hamilton,  Eirl  of,  opposes  the  Solemn 
League  and  Covenant,  177 ;  brings  about 
the  Committee  of  the  Two  Kingdoms,  199 ; 
heads  the  Scots,  1648,  294 ;  defeated  at 
Preston,  296 ;  beheaded,  1649,  330. 

Hammond,  Dr.  W.  G.,  on  the  value  of  a 
Written  Constitution,  436. 

Hammond,  Colonel,  officer  of  the  New  Model, 
245;  King's  keeper  at  Wight,  275. 

Hampden,  John,  his  character,  95-6 ;  his  great 
influence,  his  reticence,  106 ;  how  Strafford 
wished  to  treat  him,  no;  at  Edgehill,  156; 
his  death  at  Chalgrove  Field,  159. 

Harcourt,  French  ambassador,  negotiates  be- 
tween parties,  1644,  204. 

Harlakenden,  high-born  Massachusetts  colo- 
nist, 19. 

Harrison,  with  Cromwell  at  the  dissolution  of 
the  Rump,  402,  408,  410-11 ;  disciplined  by 
Oliver,  1656,  449;  his  fanaticism,  500-1. 

"  Hart,"  frigate,  case  of,  344. 

Harvard  College,  established,  1636,  52. 

Haselrig,  Sir  Arthur,  school-fellow  of  Vane, 
5  ;  active  in  bringing  bill  of  attainder  against 
Strafford,  1641,  131 ;  Republican,  1649,  324; 


member  of  Council  of  State,  328 ;  commands 
at  Newcastle  in  Dunbar  campaign,  Crom- 
well's letter  to,  347;  with  Vane  at  the  dis- 
solution of  the  Rump,  402;  in  Richard's 
Parliament,  459;  his  leadership,  460;  char- 
acter and  influence,  467-8 ;  sits  in  judgment 
on  Vane,  477 ;  his  fate,  480. 

Haynes,  Governor  of  Massachusetts  Bay  and 
of  Connecticut,  19,  39. 

Heads  of  Proposals,  laid  before  the  King, 
270-1. 

Healing  Question,  letter  of  Vane  to  Crom- 
well, occasion  of,  441 ;  recommends  a  Con- 
stitutional Convention,  442-3 ;  style  of,  444. 

"  Hector,"  ship,  case  of,  1636, 36. 

Henderson,  Rev.  Alexander,  Scotch  commis- 
sioner, 1643,  178;  draws  up  the  Solemn 
League  and  Covenant,  183. 

Henrietta  Maria,  becomes  Queen  of  Charles 
1,3;  favors  old  Sir  Henry  Vane,  9;  plots 
against  the  Parliament,  112,  116;  her  dan- 
ger during  Strafford's  trial,  134 ;  her  in- 
trepidity and  dexterity,  1643,  157. 

Holland,  its  disposition  toward  the  Common- 
wealth, 351  ;  embassy  to,  of  St.  John  and 
Strickland,  352 ;  outraged  by  the  Act  of  Navi- 
gation, 370 ;  obsequious  to  the  Common- 
wealth, at  war  with  it,  371 ;  course  of  hos- 
tilities, 379  etc.  ;  character  of  the  Dutch, 
380;  defeated,  394. 

Holland,  Lord,  defection  and  repentance  of, 
194. 

Holies,  Denzil,  Presbyterian  leader,  1645  etc-i 
256 ;  disconcerted  by  the  Ironsides,  266 ;  ac- 
tive in  1648,  295. 

Honest  Party,  the,  name  of  the  Republicans, 
1649  etc.,  325. 

Hooker,  Rev.  Thomas,  founds  Connecticut, 
his  character  and  influence,  39 ;  the  Written 
Constitution  of  his  colony,  1639,  439. 

Houbraken,  portrait  of  Vane,  14,  note;  por- 
traits of  Vane  and  Cromwell,  446-7. 

Hume,  on  Vane's  artifice,  181;  on  his  unin- 
telligibility,  491. 

Hutchinson,  Mrs.  Anne,  her  early  history,  47 ; 
outbreak  of  the  controversy  with,  48;  her 
friends  and  foes,  49 ;  Weld's  condemnation 
of,  50;  banished  from  Massachusetts  Bay, 
71 ;  her  regard  for  Vane,  her  death,  72  ;  ob- 
scurity of  her  tenets,  74. 

Hutchinson,  Colonel,  in  Parliament,  1645,256; 
in  Council  of  State,  328. 

Hyde,  see  Clarendon. 

INDEPENDENTS,  rise  of,  under  American  in- 
fluences, 164  ;  intolerant  at  first,  165, 169;  be- 
comes tolerant  in  England,  170;  their  grow- 
ing prominence  in  1644,  230 ;  great  influence 


574 


INDEX. 


in  1645,  255-6;  they  struggle  with  the  Pres- 
byterians, 265  ;  their  anxieties  in  1648,  297  ; 
their  able  management,  301  ;  welcome  Grand 
Army  Remonstrance,  305 ;  at  Pride's  Purge, 
310. 

Instrument  of  Government,  Cromwell's,  440, 
note. 

Interdependence,  better  than  Independence, 
564. 

Jreland,  Cromwell's  campaign  in,  1649,  sub- 
dued, 337. 

Ireton,  Henry,  officer  of  the  New  Model,  240 ; 
Commissary  General,  1645,  242  ;  commands 
the  left  wing  at  Naseby,  244 ;  routed  by  Ru- 
pert, 247 ;  charges  Royalist  centre,  249 ;  in 
Parliament  as  a  Recruiter,  256;  draws  up 
the  Heads  of  Proposals,  271 ;  at  the  Blue 
Boar  Inn  with  Cromwell,  1647,  273-4 ;  sec- 
onds the  motion  to  lay  the  King  by,  283  ;  at 
the  siege  of  Colchester,  293;  author  of  the 
Grand  Army  Remonstrance,  303;  engi- 
neers Pride's  Purge,  310 ;  author  of  Army 
manifestos,  312  ;  of  2d  Agreement  of  the 
People,  320;  left  out  of  the  Council  of  State, 
328 ;  subdues  Ireland,  362 ;  his  death,  his 
home,  363 ;  Ludlow's  eulogy,  364  ;  his  Agree- 

•  ment  of  thefeople,  a  draft  for  an  American 
Constitution,  440. 

Ironsides,  name  given  to  Cromwell  by  Rupert, 
224 ;  his  troops  so  called,  242,  245,  note ;  at 
Naseby,  245,  248,  250 ;  American  ideas  of 
the,  260;  Sexby,  Allen,  and  Sheppard  be- 
fore Parliament,  266-7  >  march  through  Lon- 
don, 270;  meeting  against  Cromwell,  273; 
issue  Agreement  of  the  People  and  Case 
of  the  Whole  Army,  277  etc.  ;  their  Amer- 
ican utterances,  280-1 ;  Allen's  account  of 
the  prayer-meeting  of,  1648,  287-92;  at 
Preston,  296;  their  Grand  Army  Remon- 
strance, 302  etc.;  at  Pride's  Purge,  310; 
their  manifestos,  312  ;  in  the  campaign  of 
Dunbar,  345-9;  of  Worcester,  354,  360;  they 
make  the  Rump  uneasy,  400  ;  back  Crom- 
well in  dissolving  the  Rump,  409. 

JAMES  I,  knights  old  Sir  Henry  Vane,  3. 
John,  King  of  France,  captured  at  Poictiers 

by  a  Vane,  i. 

Johnson,  Lady  Arbella,  in  New  England,  19. 
Johnston  of  Wariston,  Scotch  commissioner, 

1643,  187. 
Joyce,    Cornet,    carries    off   the    King    from 

Holmby  House,  268. 

KEELING,  King's  counsel  at  Vane's  trial,  527. 
King,  see  Charles  I,  and  Charles  II. 
King's  Bench,  Court  of,  Vane  arraigned  be- 
fore,  508. 


LAMBERT,  GENERAL,  at  Marston  Moor,  214, 
220 ;  in  the  campaign  of  1648,  293  ;  retards  the 
Scotch  advance,  295 ;  at  Preston,  296 ;  at 
Dunbar,  348 ;  on  committee  for  the  incorpo- 
ration of  Scotland,  362 ;  with  Cromwell 
against  the  Rump,  402;  in  Wallingford- 
House  Party,  1659,  his  character  and  career, 
459 ;  turns  out  restored  Rump,  474  ;  becomes 
a  flower-painter  and  cultivator,  480. 

Langdale,  Sir  Marmaduke,  commands  King's 
left  at  Naseby,  245 ;  routed  by  Cromwell^ 
248 ;  in  arms  in  1648,  286 ;  bravery  at  Pres- 
ton, 296. 

Laud,  Archbishop,  tries  to  convert  young 
Harry  Vane,  10 ;  his  character,  93 ;  his 
arrest,  114;  blesses  Straff ord  on  the  way  to 
execution,  135  ;  his  impeachment,  142. 

Lawson,  Admiral,  with  Blake  against  Van 
Tromp,  387  ;  disciplined  by  Cromwell,  1656, 
449 ;  deserts  Committee  of  Safety,  1659,  47^. 

Lawson,  Sir  Wilfrid,  demands  abolition  of  the 
House  of  Lords,  1886,  89. 

Leicester,  stormed  by  the  King,  1645,  241. 

Lenthall,  Speaker,  at  dissolution  of  the  Rump, 
411  ;  at  restoration  of  the  Rump,  470. 

Leslie,  David,  at  Marston  Moor,  215-16,  222;        V 
destroys  Montrose  at  Philiphaugh,  254;  ap- 
pointed to  command  Scots  in  1650,  345  ;  his 
skilful  management,  346 ;  routed  at  Dunbar, 
348. 

Levellers,  282;  under  the  Commonwealth,  331. 

Leven,  Earl  of,  Alexander  Leslie,  commands 
Scots,  1644,  187;  inefficient  at  York  and 
Marston  Moor,  212,  214,  220. 

Ley,  Lord,  visitor  to  Massachusetts  Bay,  60; 
returns  to  England  with  Vane,  1637,  70. 

Lilburne,  John,  passionate  fanatic,  257-8 ;  op- 
poses the  Commonwealthsmen  and  is  im- 
prisoned, 322-3,  331. 

London,  sides  with  Parliament,  149;  sends  its 
train-bands  to  Gloucester,  1643,  174;  Catho- 
lic plot  to  separate  city  from  Parliament, 
194-5;  discovery  of,  and  rejoicings,  195-6; 
Vane's  speech  to  people  of,  in  Guildhall, 
196-7;  festivities  of,  198;  Ironsides  march 
through,  270;  rejoices  over  the  Restoration, 

479- 

Long  Parliament,  see  Parliament. 

Lords,  House  of,  its  zeal  against  the  aggres- 
sions of  the  King,  99 ;  seeks  to  shield  Lord 
Holland,  194;  out-manoeuvred  by  Vane,  in- 
formation of  the  Derby  House  Committee, 
200-1  ;  opposes  the  Self-  Denying  Ordi- 
nance, 1645,  234;  swept  away,  1649,  321. 

Love,  Rev.  Christopher,  case  of,  358. 

Lovelace,  Lord,  King's  agent  in  his  intrigue 
with  Vane,  1644,  193. 

Lowell,  J.   R.,  on  a  Written  Constitution  as 


INDEX. 


575 


restraining  popular  whim,  436 ;  the  perma- 
nence of  America  dependent  on  faithfulness 
to  English  traditions,  561. 

Lucas,  Sir  Charles,  a  Royalist  commander  at 
Marston  Moor,  218-20. 

Ludlow,  General,  tribute  to  Vane,  100;  in 
Parliament,  1645,  256;  member  of  the  Coun- 
cil of  State,  328 ;  tribute  to  Ireton,  364 ;  de- 
scribes dissolution  of  the  Rump,  408-10; 
disciplined  by  Oliver,  1656,  449 ;  asserts 
persecution  of  Vane  by  Cromwell,  453. 

MACKINTOSH,  SIR  JAMRS,  high  estimate  of 
Vane,  492. 

Magna  CAarta,  relation  of,  to  a  Written  Con- 
stitution, 438. 

Maidstone,  his  testimony  concerning  Vane, 
482. 

Maine,  Sir  Henry,  on  the  American  Constitu- 
tion, 437 ;  on  the  vagueness  of  the  term  Re- 
publican, 5  i 6-17. 

Manchester,  Earl  of,  heads  the  eastern  coun- 
ties, 159;  commands  Parliamentary  left  at 
Marston  Moor,  214;  inefficient  at  second 
battle  of  Newbury,  231. 

Marshall,  Rev.  Stephen,  commissioner  to  Scot- 
land, 1643, 173  ;  preaches  at  Edinburgh,  178 ; 
sermon  after  Violett's  plot,  198. 

Marston  Moor,  localities  visited,  213  ;  battle 
of,  214  etc. 

Marten,  Henry,  his  character,  189;  his  wit, 
190 ;  on  John  Lilburne,  257 ;  Republican  in 
1648,  302;  his  wit,  1649,  325;  member  of 
the  Council  of  State,  327;  designs  the  Great 
Seal  of  the  Commonwealth,  369 ;  with  Vane 
at  the  dissolution  of  the  Rump,  402;  in 
4  the  restored  Rump,  1659,  his  fate,  480 ;  as  a 
free-thinker,  501. 

Marvell,  Andrew,  his  tribute  to  Charles  I,  314. 

Mason,  Capt.  John,  veteran  soldier,  44 ;  con- 
quers the  Pequots,  68  etc. 

Massachusetts  Bay,  in  1635,  16;  its  charter, 
18;  colonists,  19;  character  and  influence 
of  ministers  of,  21;  arrival  in,  of  Vane,  32; 
Vane  chosen  Governor  of,  33. 

Masson,  his  Life  of  Milton  describes  Prynne, 
257;  the  Order  Books  of  the  Council  of 
State,  339;  estimates  Vane,  498. 

Mather,  Cotton,  on  Roger  Williams,  25. 

Matthew,  Sir  Tobie,  describes  young  Harry,  8. 

May,  Sir  T.  Erskine,  on  England  as  the  par- 
ent of  democratic  republics,  555. 

Maynard,  at  Strafford's  trial,  118;  Presby- 
terian leader,  1645,  256;  at  Vane's  trial, 
508-9. 

Meditations  concerning  Man's  Life,  theolog- 
ical work  of  Vane,  extract  from,  502-3. 

Mercuritts  Aulieus,  Royalist  news-sheet,  on 


the  proposition  to  send  Vane  into  the  field, 
1643,  163 ;  on  Vane's  trip  to  York,  1644,  209. 

Mercurius  Britannicus,  Parliamentary  news- 
sheet,  on  Vane's  trip  to  York,  1644,  210. 

Miantonimo,  chief  of  the  Narragansetts,  44 ; 
he  visits  Vane  in  Boston,  46. 

Militia,  dispute  as  to  the  command  of,  146, 
148. 

Milton,  John,  an  Independent,  166 ;  Secretary 
for  Foreign  Tongues  to  the  Council  of  State, 
329;  writes  Eikonoclastes  and  Defensio 
Populi  A  nglicani,  340 ;  his  sonnet  to  Vane, 
376-8 ;  a  calumniator  of  the  Rump,  415 ;  his 
panegyric  on  Cromwell,  454-5. 

Ministers,  of  New  England,  their  weight  in 
the  community,  21 ;  their  Calvinism,  as 
poets,  22. 

Monk,  General,  at  Dunbar,  348;  subdues 
Scotland,  1651,  361 ;  on  committee  for  in- 
corporating Scotland,  362 ;  with  Blake 
against  Van  Tromp,  387 ;  commands  the 
fleet  in  1653,  393;  condemns  the  Rump, 
1653,  415;  sides  with  the  restored  Rump, 
1659,  474 ;  his  march  to  London,  restoration 
of  Charles  II,  conduct  and  character,  477- 
478. 

Montague,  on  the  left  wing  at  Marston  Moor, 
216;  officer  in  the  New  Model,  240,  244; 
Cromwellian,  1659,  473. 

Montrose,  the  Earl  of,  his  successes,  227 ;  the 
King  takes  courage  from  them,  1645,  235; 
his  victory  at  Kilsyth,  241  ;  routed  at  Philip- 
haugh,  254. 

NALSON,  on  Vane  at  Strafford's  trial,  127 ;  on 

his  speech  against  Episcopal  Government, 

142. 
Narragansetts,  held  firm   to  the   English  by 

Roger  Williams,  1636,  44. 
Naseby,  present  appearance  of  localities,  242- 

3 ;  battle  of,  243  etc. 
Navigation  Act,  as  a  cause  of  the  Dutch  war, 

1652,  370. 

Navy,  re-created  by  Vane,  1649,  331 ;  refer- 
ences to,  in  Order  Books,  343 ;  against  the 

Rump,  1653,  415.  • 

Neville,  a  leader  of  the  restored  Rump,  1659, 

474;  his  free-thinking,  defended  by  Vane, 

501-2. 

Newburn,  Vane's  alleged  cowardice  at,  103. 
Newbury,   London  train-bands  at  first  battle 

of,  191 ;  second  battle  of,  230. 
Newcastle,  Earl  of,  Royalist  commander  at 

York,  1644, 205  ;  disasrees  with  Rupert,  217; 

at  Marston  Moor,  220. 
New  England,  Vane  resolves  to  go  to,   n; 

source  of  Independency  in  Old  England,  166. 
New  Model,  the  army  of  the,  origin  of,  235  ; 


576 


INDEX. 


its  constitution,  239-40 ;  general  distrust  of, 
before  Naseby,  241. 

New  Zealand,  present  position  and  institutions 
of,  553-4- 

Norman  Conquest,  its  influence  on  the  Eng- 
lish Constitution,  85. 

Nuremberg,  Vane's  visit  to,  6,  7. 

Nye,  Rev.  Philip,  a  leader  of  the  Indepen- 
dents, 166;  influenced  by  John  Cotton,  168; 
a  commissioner  to  Scotland,  1643,  173;  his 
sermon  at  Edinburgh,  178 ;  at  St.  Margaret's, 


OKEY,  Major  in  the  New  Model,  240 ;  on  the 
left  wing  at  Naseby,  244,  247,  249;  disci- 
plined by  Cromwell,  1656,  449. 

Order  Books,  of  the  Derby  House  Committee, 
202-3  ;  of  the  Council  of  State,  333  ;  variety 
of  their  contents,  339;  their  record,  1651, 
354-7 ;  at  outbreak  of  the  Dutch  war,  371-4. 

Ormond,  Marquis  of,  organizes  Ireland  against 
the  Commonwealth,  1649,  323. 

Osbaldestone,  Lambert,  teacher  of  young 
Harry  at  Westminster,  5. 

Otis,  James,  advocates  an  American  represen- 
tation in  British  Parliament,  548-9. 

Owen,  Dr.  John,  a  leader  of  the  Independents, 
1643  ;  influenced  by  John  Cotton,  168. 

Oxford,  Vane  at  the  University  of,  5. 

PALFREY,  J.  G.,  his  History  of  New  Eng- 
land on  Roger  Williams,  26. 

Palmer,  Sir  Geoffrey,  attorney-general  at 
Vane's  trial,  511. 

Parliament,  origin  of,  86.  Short  Parliament, 
1640,  convenes,  98;  dissolves,  100.  Long 
Parliament,  convenes,  1640,  prominent  mem- 
bers and  their  seats,  105  ;  its  appearance, 
106 ;  driven  by  terror  to  pursue  Strafford, 
117;  not  to  be  dissolved  without  its  own  con- 
sent, 133  ;  opposes  the  King,  137-8 ;  makes 
war,  1642,  150;  appeals  to  Scots  for  aid, 
1643,  175;  signs  the  Solemn  League  and 
Covenant,  187-8 ;  denied  legal  status  by  the 
King,  204 ;  purged  by  Pride,  and  becomes 
the  Rump,  310;  reconstituted,  1660,  478. 
Rump  Parliament,  its  ideas,  318 ;  its  diffi- 
culties, 322-4;  unpopularity  of,  1653,  399; 
hostility  to,  of  Cromwell,  402 ;  plans  to  re- 
place the,  402-5 ;  appearance  of,  April  20, 
1653,  dissolution  of,  according  to  Ludlow, 
408-10 ;  according  to  Algernon  Sidney,  411 ; 
tributes  to,  416-17  ;  Scott's  defence  of,  417; 
revived  in  1659,  470;  driven  out  by  Lam- 
bert, 474 ;  abandoned  by  Vane,  sits  in  judg- 
ment on  Vane,  477.  Oliver's  Parliaments, 
414.  Richard's  Parliament,  convenes,  1659, 
458;  Vane's  election  to,  459;  his  great  in- 


fluence, 460;  his  speeches  in,  461-7;  dis- 
solved, 469.  Convention  Parliament,  1660, 
restores  Charles  II,  479. 

Patrick,  Captain,  veteran  soldier,  43. 

Pemberton  Square,  home  of  Vane  in  New 
England,  47;  as  birthplace  of  the  English 
Commonwealth,  167,  169. 

Penn,  Admiral,  with  Blake  against  Van 
Tromp,  387  ;  captures  fifty  ships,  392. 

People' 's  Case  Stated,  extract  from,  504-6. 

Pequots,  war  with,  how  caused,  43 ;  cruelty  of, 
56 ;  vanquished  by  Mason,  68-70. 

Peters,  Rev.  Hugh,  comes  to  New  England 
with  Vane,  32 ;  they  show  arrogance,  33 ; 
chides  Vane,  53-4;  a  leader  of  the  Inde- 
pendents, 166 ;  suffers  death  at  the  Restora- 
tion, 480. 

Petition  and  Advice,  scheme  of  government 
in  1659,  461 ;  denounced  by  Vane,  463. 

Petition  of  Right,  adopted  by  Charles  I, 
1628,  92. 

Phillips,  Wendell,  his  tribute  to  Vane,  75-6. 

Pickering,  on  the  left  wing  at  Marston  Moor, 
216. 

Poictiers,  battle  of,  a  young  Sir  Henry  Vane 
at,  >. 

Popham,  a  General  of  the  Fleet,  1649,  331; 
writes  to  Vane  from  before  Lisbon,  344; 
his  death,  358. 

Presbyterians,  numerous  in  London,  1640, 115 ; 
begin  to  yield  before  Independents,  164; 
their  activity,  1645-6 ;  out-manoeuvred  by 
Independents,  263 ;  their  power  in  1647,  dis- 
concerted by  the  Ironsides,  266;  King  sides 
with  them,  1647,  277 ;  anxious  for  peace, 
1648,  300;  their  poor  management,  301;  re- 
sist the  Army,  305 ;  purged  out  by  Pride* 
1648,  310. 

Preston,  battle  of,  296. 

Pride,  Colonel  Thomas,  officer  in  the  New 
Model,  240;  succors  the  Parliament  centre 
at  Naseby,  249;  his  Purge,  310;  at  Dunbar, 
349;  his  "  peck  "  against  lawyers,  368. 

Protectoratists,  party  in  1659,  they  retire  from 
the  field,  473. 

Providence  Colony,  addressed  by  Vane,  1654, 
424-5 ;  it  replies,  425-6. 

Prynne,  William,  Presbyterian  leader,  256-7; 
his  heroic  conduct,  1648,  305-6;  scene  be- 
tween him  and  Vane,  1659,  470.  • 

Psalm  of  Mercy,  ballad  on  Vane,  488. 

Pym,  John,  his  influence  on  Vane  as  a  youth, 
12 ;  his  character,  94-5 ;  harangues  the  Short 
Parliament,  98;  leader  of  the  Long  Parlia- 
ment, his  temper,  106;  his  judgment  of 
Strafford,  no;  denounces  Strafford,  HI; 
manages  the  prosecution,  118  etc.  ;  brings 
forward  the  evidence  of  Vane,  121 ;  looks 


INDEX. 


577 


toward  help  from  Scotland,  1643,  172;  his 
illness,  189  ;  death  and  funeral  of,  192. 

QUEEN,  see  Henrietta  Maria. 

RABY  CASTLH,  bought  by  old  Sir  Henry 
Vane,  1626,  the  King  entertained  there,  4 ; 
appears  in  the  title  of  Strafford,  and  also  of 
young  Sir  Henry  Vane,  102;  account  of 
visit  to,  419-421 ;  Vane  retires  to,  421. 

Reade,  a  Catholic  intriguer,  1643,  195. 

Reasons  for  an  A  rrest  of  Judgment,  Vane's 
extract  from,  528-9. 

Recruiters,  new  members  of  Parliament  in 
1645,  256. 

Republican,  vagueness  of  the  name,  516-17. 

Retired  Man's  Meditations,  theological  work 
of  Vane,  extract  from,  429 ;  judged  by  Bayne, 
499- 

Reyley,  a  plotter  in  1643,  195. 

Robinson,  Rev.  John,  pastor  of  the  Pilgrims, 
a  founder  of  Toleration,  170. 

Robinson,  Sir  John,  Lieutenant  of  the  Tower 
at  Vane's  execution,  539,  541-2. 

Root  and  Branch  party,  oppose  Prelacy,  115. 

Roundheads,  first  appearance  of  the  name, 
138 ;  their  character,  149-150. 

Rupert,  Prince,  and  the  Rev.  Nathaniel  Ward, 
23  ;  his  portrait  at  Warwick  Castle,  154;  his 
character,  155;  at  Edgehill,  156;  success  in 
Lancashire,  1644,  205 ;  skill  before  York, 
212 ;  at  Marston  Moor,  218,  221-2 ;  names 
Cromweii  Ironside,  224;  commands  the 
King's  right  at  Naseby  >  245  ;  his  brilliancy 
and  imprudence,  246-250 ;  becomes  a  sailor, 
331 ;  defeated  by  Blake,  368. 

SAILORS,  description  of,  in  the  seventeenth 
century,  380-2. 

"  Saint  Patrick,"  ship,  case  of,  35. 

Santa  Cruz,  battle  of,  396. 

Sassacus,  chief  of  the  Pequots,  44. 

Say  and  Sele,  Lord,  interested  in  Connecticut, 
40;  in  the  Separatists,  116;  at  the  forma- 
tion of  the  Committee  of  Two  Kingdoms, 
200 ;  becomes  reactionary  in  1648,  307. 

Scilly  Isles,  Vane  imprisoned  in,  480;  letter 
from,  to  his  wife,  507-8. 

Scots,  adopt  the  Covenant,  94;  at  Newburn 
skirmish,  103;  visited  by  the  King,  137; 
Parliament  invokes  help  of,  1643,  172  etc. ; 
march  for  England,  187 ;  at  Marston  Moor, 
215,  220-1;  dispirited,  1644,  227;  receive 
the  King,  depart  for  home,  1646,  266 ;  en- 
gage with  the  King,  1647,  276;  take  arms 
against  Parliament,  285 ;  enter  England, 
294 ;  routed  at  Preston,  296 ;  preparations  for 
campaign  against,  1650,  343 ;  their  counter- 


preparations,  345  ;  routed  at  Dunbar,  348-9 ; 
retire  northward,  351 ;  the  rush  for  England, 
353;  battle  of  Worcester,  360;  disposal  of, 
as  prisoners,  to  be  incorporated  with  the 
English,  362. 

Scott,  Thomas,  schoolfellow  of  Vane  at  West- 
minster, 5  ;  a  Recruiter,  1645,  256 ;  Inde- 
pendent leader,  1648,  302;  defends  the  exe- 
cution of  the  King,  315-16;  member  of 
Council  of  State,  329;  upholder  of  the 
Rump,  1653,  402  ;  his  defence  of  the  Rump, 
417 ;  in  Richard's  Parliament,  1659,  459 ;  his 
fine  character,  468;  sits  in  judgment  on 
Vane,  1659,  477 ;  winds  up  gloriously  the 
English  Commonwealth,  478-9. 

Selden,  John,  characterized,  189;  mocks  at 
fanaticism,  501. 

Self-Denying  Ordinance,  how  brought  about, 
231-2. 

Separatists,  fathers  of  Independency,  116,  169. 

Ship-money,  dispute  about,  96. 

Short  Parliament,  see  Parliament. 

Sidney,  Algernon,  Colonel  in  the  New  Model, 
240 ;  in  Parliament,  1645,  256 ;  disapproves 
Pride's  Purge  and  King's  execution,  313 ;  at 
dissolution  of  the  Rump,  his  account  of, 
410-11 ;  his  tribute  to,  416. 

Sikes,  biographer  of  Vane,  on  Vane's  absorp- 
tion in  work,  140;  on  his  embarrassments, 
148;  on  his  influence  in  the  Dutch  war, 

375-^- 

Simon  de  Montfort,  saves  English  freedom  in 
the  i3th  century,  87. 

Simple  Cobbler  of  Aggawam,  of  Nathaniel 
Ward,  23-4;  against  Toleration,  165. 

Skippon,  commands  the  London  train-bands, 
Major-General  of  the  New  Model,  239 ;  at 
Naseby,  244,  249;  a  Recruiter  in  1645,  256; 
pays  the  Scots,  1646,  265 ;  introduces  the 
complaint  of  the  soldiers,  266;  member  of 
the  Council  of  State,  328. 

Smith,  Adam,  favors  American  representation 
in  British  Parliament,  550. 

Social  Compact  on  board  the  "  Mayflower,'' 
its  relation  to  a  Written  Constitution,  439. 

Solemn  League  and  Covenant,  negotiated, 
175-180;  adopted,  180;  signed,  1643,  188. 

"Sovereign  of  the  Seas,"  crack  ship  of  Eng- 
lish Navy,  385. 

Spain,  disciplined  by  Blake,  treasure-ships  of, 
395;  fight  against,  off  Cadiz,  at  Santa  Cruz, 
396. 

Standish,  Miles,  veteran  of  Plymouth,  43. 

Stapleton,  Presbyterian  leader  in  1645,  256. 

Start,  promontory  of  the,  Blake's  death  off 
the,  397. 

St.  John,  seconds  Vane  in  forming  the  Com- 
mittee of  Both  Kingdoms,  199;  his  In- 


578 


INDEX. 


dependency,  228;  on  Derby  House  Com- 
mittee, 294;  disapproves  of  Pride's  Purge, 
313 ;  member  of  Council  of  State,  328 ;  chief 
justice  of  the  Common  Pleas,  his  embassy  to 
Holland,  352  ;  on  committee  for  incorporat- 
ing Scotland,  362 ;  author  of  Navigation  Act, 
370;  with  Cromwell  against  the  Rump,  402. 

St.  Margaret's,  Westminster,  at  the  signing  of 
the  Solemn  League  and  Covenant,  187. 

St.  Stephen's  Chapel,  Westminster,  meeting- 
place  of  Parliament,  its  appearance  in  1640, 
97 ;  April  20,  1653,  407. 

Stone,  chaplain  in  the  Pequot  war,  69. 

Strafford,  the  Earl  of,  his  first  knowledge  of 
Vane,  12 ;  his  character,  93  ;  his  weight  in 
the  Privy  Council,  99 ;  his  affront  to  the 
Vanes,  102  ;  supremacy  of  his  influence,  104 ; 
his  career,  portrait,  early  zeal  for  freedom, 
108 ;  upholds  the  royal  prerogative,  109-10 ; 
denounced  by  Pym,  in;  arrested  and  sent 
to  the  Tower,  112-13;  bis  trial,  117  etc. ;  diffi- 
culty as  to  the  charge  of  treason,  118  ;  the 
work  of  the  Vanes,  120  etc. ;  his  probable 
honesty,  130;  his  defence,  132;  his  con- 
demnation, 133;  given  up  by  the  King,  134; 
execution,  135;  his  significance  in  history, 
136;  compared  with  Vane,  530. 

Strickland,  ambassador  with  St.  John  to  Hol- 
land, 352. 

Stubbe,  Henry,  testifies  to  Vane's  desire  for 
retirement,  426;  described  by  Anthony  a 
Wood,  his  Defence  of  the  Good  Old  Cause, 
490 ;  his  eulogy  of  Vane,  491. 

Supreme  Court,  its  place  as  regards  a  Written 
Constitution,  444,  note. 

TATE,  ZOUCH,  moves  the  Self-Denying  Ordi- 
nance, 232. 

Taylor,  Jeremy,  upholder  of  Toleration,  170. 

Thorough,  policy  of  Laud  and  Strafford  so 
called,  10  ;  fear  of,  in  New  England,  56. 

Thurloe,  testimony  of  his  State  Papers  to 
friendship  of  Vane  and  Cromwell  after  the 
dissolution  of  the  Rump,  427;  disapproves 
of  the  Healing  Question,  448  ;  leads  the 
Cromwellians,  1659,  459. 

Toleration,  Vane's  early  advocacy  of,  64-6 ; 
upheld  by  Roger  Williams,  66 ;  a  modern 
idea,  history  of  its  rise,  169-70 ;  promoted 
by  Roger  Williams  and  Vane,  171-2 :  upheld 
by  Vane  and  Cromwell,  1651,  368-9;  ex- 
tended by  Vane  to  free-thinkers,  501-2. 

Tower-Hill,  description  of,  533-4. 

"Triumph,"  flagship  of  Blake,  against  Van 
Tromp,  385  ;  her  fight  with  the  "  Brederode," 
389 ;  her  pursuit  of  the  Dutch,  391-2. 

UNDBRHILL,  CAPT.  JOHN,  veteran  soldier  in 


New  England,  44 ;  in  the  Pequot  war,  1636, 

68-9 ;  his  libertinism,  72-3. 
Upham,  C.  W.,  on  Vane  as  a  connecting  link 

between  England  and  America,  568. 
Urry,  Sir  John,  on  Royalist  left  at  Marston 

Moor,  218-20. 
Uxbridge,  unsuccessful  negotiations  at,  1645, 

235- 

Valley  of  Jehoshaphat,  religious  work  of  Vane, 
extract  from,  430. 

Vane,  Charles,  ambassador  to  Portugal,  338 ; 
favors  Voluntaryism,  369. 

Vane,  Christopher,  son  and  heir  of  young  oir 
Henry,  422,  531,  note. 

Vane,  George,  defends  Raby  Castle  against 
the  King,  420. 

Vane,  Sir  Henry  of  Poictiers,  1356,  i ;  of 
Wyatt's  rebellion,  1554,  2. 

Vane,  Sir  Henry  (called  "old  Sir  Henry"), 
his  marriage,  travels,  accomplishments,  aid 
early  success,  3  ;  buys  Raby  Castle,  becomes 
principal  Secretary  of  State,  4 ;  his  pliability, 
9;  gives  evidence  against  Strafford,  1641, 
120 ;  his  conduct  here  considered,  126;  sides 
with  the  Parliament  against  the  King,  loses 
good  opinion  of  both  sides,  145  ;  member  of 
Committee  of  Both  Kingdoms,  202 ;  nomi- 
nated Baron,  1645,  2f>2  ;  target  of  Marten's 
wit,  325 ;  his  later  career,  death,  and  char- 
acter, 423. 

Vane,  Sir  Henry,  of  Raby  Castle,  Knight 
(called  "  young  Sir  Henry  "),  his  ancestors, 
i,  2;  birth,  1612,  3;  at  Westminster  school, 
4 ;  his  vigorous  youth,  at  Oxford,  at  Vienna, 
5  ;  his  letters  from  Germany,  6,  7 ;  perhaps 
at  Geneva,  Sir  Tobie  Matthew's  description, 
8;  turns  Puritan,  9;  uninfluenced  by  the 
King  or  Laud,  10 ;  determines  for  New  Eng- 
land, n ;  his  letter  to  his  father,  12,  13;  his 
appearance,  14 ;  his  portraits,  14,  note : 
arrives  in  Boston,  his  presumption,  32; 
elected  Governor,  1636,  draws  up  "  funda- 
mentals," 33  ;  assumes  state,  34 ;  deals  with 
the  ships,  35-8 ;  inlerest  in  the  settlement  of 
Connecticut,  40 ;  journey  through  the  Colony, 
receives  the  Narragansett  embassy,  46 ;  his 
house  in  Boston,  47 ;  sides  with  Mrs.  Anne 
Hutchinson,  49 ;  his  views  described  by 
Winthrop,  51 ;  presides  at  establishment  of 
Harvard  College,  sore  troubled  by  dissen- 
sions, 52;  chided  by  Hugh  Peters,  53-4;  his 
struggle  for  reelection  as  Governor,  his  fail- 
ure, 58 ;  made  deputy  from  Boston  to  Gen- 
eral Court,  59;  his  chagrin,  60;  his  contro- 
versy with  Winthrop,  61 ;  loyal  to  the  King, 
62 ;  his  toleration,  64-6 ;  departs  from  New 
England,  70 ;  regard  of  Mrs.  Hutchinson 


INDEX. 


579 


for,  72 ;  clashing  of  authorities  as  to  Vane  in 
New  England,  75  ;  his  immaturity  in  Massa- 
chusetts Bay,  77 ;  his  promise  as  a  state- 
builder,  78 ;  his  magnanimous  letter  to  Win- 
throp,  79,  80 ;  his  marriage,  88 ;  close  friend- 
ship with  Pym  and  Hampden,  88-9 ;  elected 
to  the  Short  Parliament,  made  joint  Treas- 
urer of  the  Navy,  97 ;  Ludlow's  tribute  to, 
joo ;  knighted,  charged  with  cowardice,  102 ; 
elected  to  the  Long  Parliament,  his  seat  at 
St.  Stephen's,  105 ;  active  in  the  Root  and 
Branch  party,  116;  gives  evidence  against 
Strafford,  121-5;  his  conduct  here  con- 
sidered, 126,  130;  makes  impression  upon 
Parliament,  140 ;  in  connection  with  the 
abolition  of  Episcopacy,  his  indirection, 
141  ;  carries  up  the  impeachment  of  Laud, 
speech  against  Episcopal  government,  142 ; 
portrayed  by  Clarendon,  143-4;  Carterett's 
testimony  as  to  his  influence,  D'Ewes  on  his 
coolness  and  sense  of  justice,  145 ;  his  part 
in  the  debates  on  the  militia,  146 ;  hostile  to 
an  accommodation,  1642, 147 ;  sole  Treasurer 
of  the  Navy  under  the  Parliament,  his  self- 
sacrifice,  148  ;  stimulates  London  and  Parlia- 
ment to  persevere  in  the  war,  157-8;  on 
Committee  for  Waller's  plot,  158 ;  scores 
Essex  for  sluggishness,  161 ;  Essex  chal- 
lenges him  to  the  field,  162 ;  Parliament 
thinks  of  sending  him  into  the  field,  163 ;  a 
product  of  American  influences,  163-4;  a 
leader  in  Independency,  166-8;  trained  in 
John  Covton's  study,  169 ;  entertains  Roger 
Williams,  1643,  170;  speech  of,  quoted  by 
Roger  Williams,  his  growth  in  toleration, 
172 ;  sent  to  Scotland  to  procure  an  alliance, 
173 :  reaches  Edinburgh,  hardship  of  his 
position,  175  ;  received  by  Scotch  Assembly, 
176;  Solemn  League  and  Covenant  nego- 
tiated, 1643,  177-8 ;  Cavalier  and  Presby- 
terian accusations  of  duplicity  against,  179- 
181  ;  the  case  summed  up,  182-4;  his  dying 
declaration,  185 ;  signs  the  Solemn  League 
and  Covenant,  187-8;  leader  of  the  Com- 
mons from  the  death  of  Pym,  191  ;  at  Pym's 
funeral,  192;  the  King  intrigues  to  com- 
promise him,  1643-4,  193-4;  foils  Violett's 
plot,  195-6  ;  speech  upon  it  to  the  London- 
ers, 196-7 ;  brings  about  the  Committee  of 
the  Two  Kingdoms,  199-202 ;  his  prominence 
in  the  Committee,  203 ;  sent  to  the  army  in 
the  North,  205  ;  his  secret  mission,  206  ;  his 
return  and  report,  207-8;  news-sheet  com- 
ments upon  it,  209-10;  his  share  in  the  vic- 
tory of  Marston  Moor,  1644,  2 10 ;  worn  out 
with  labor,  227  ;  his  Independency  troubles 
the  Covenanters,  228-9;  with  Cromwell 
engineers  the  Self-Denying  Ordinance^  231 ; 


his  speech  on  it  in  the  Commons,  232-4 ;  his 
influence  in  London,  234;  his  friendship 
with  the  Marquis  of  Argyle,  235 ;  speech  to 
the  Londoners  in  behalf  of  the  New  Model, 
236-7 ;  his  subtlety,  238 ;  his  leadership  at 
end  of  1645,  approached  by  the  King  for  re- 
lief in  his  distresses,  263-4  i  'ays  before  the 
Commons  the  Heads  of  Proposals,  1647,  270; 
disgusted  with  Kingship,  272;  takes  Re- 
publican ground,  284;  his  power  at  Derby 
House,  1648,  286 ;  his  activity,  297  ;  broken 
down  by  illness,  298 ;  mutual  love  between 
him  and  Cromwell,  a  commissioner  to  treat 
with  the  King  at  Wight,  299 ;  impressed  by 
the  King's  ability,  300  ;  outwits  Charles,  301 ; 
opposes  a  treaty  with  him,  307-9 ;  disap- 
proves Pride's  Purge  and  execution  of  the 
King,  312  ;  withdraws  from  Parliament,  313 ; 
besought  to  return,  317;  his  eminence  in  the 
Commonwealth,  324  ;  member  of  the  Council 
of  State,  326 ;  his  hesitation  before  Repub- 
licanism, 327 ;  probably  invites  Milton  to  be 
Secretary  for  Foreign  Tongues,  329 ;  on 
committee  for  the  Navy,  331 ;  for  Alliances, 
for  the  new  settlement  of  the  nation,  332  ;  in 
the  Order  Books  of  the  Council  of  State, 
333 ;  organizes  a  great  Navy,  337 ;  second 
only  to  Cromwell,  340;  recommends  a  Parlia- 
ment on  Ireton's  plan,  1651,  341 ;  his  sense 
of  the  difficulties  of  the  Commonwealth, 
342 ;  on  Committees  for  meeting  the  Lord 
General,  and  for  Army  and  Navy,  343 ; 
Cromwell's  appeal  to,  on  the  eve  of  Dunbar, 
347 ;  and  after  Dunbar,  350 ;  entertains  with 
Cromwell  the  idea  of  uniting  England  with 
Holland,  352;  his  leadership  in  finance,  in 
war-matters,  355-6 ;  in  care  for  Ireland  and 
Scotland,  "  in  principles  too  high  for  Crom- 
well to  fathom,"  357-8;  his  sternness  to 
Rev.  Christopher  Love,  358-9;  instructs 
commissioners  sent  to  the  Lord  General 
after  Worcester,  360-1 ;  on  Committee  to  in- 
corporate Scotland  with  England,  362  ;  his 
work  in  the  Committee  for  the  new  settle- 
ment, 364-5  ;  reflected  to  Council  of  State, 
366 ;  protects  Catholics  and  Unitarians, 
369;  administrator  in  the  Dutch  war,  371  ; 
testimony  of  the  Order  Books  to  his  activity, 
370-4;  Sikes's  account  of  his  work  in  1652, 
375-6 ;  sonnet  of  Milton  to,  376-8  ;  probably 
pleased  with  measures  to  balance  the  great 
influence  of  the  Army,  400;  his  plan  for  re- 
placing the  Rump,  402-3  ;  his  conservatism, 
404;  desires  dissolution  of  the  Rump,  405; 
his  speech,  April  20,  1653,  407;  Cromwell's 
prayer  to  the  Lord  to  be  delivered  from,  409  ; 
called  by  Cromwell  a  juggler,  41 1 ;  the  two 
men  not  gravely  estranged,  412  ;  hopeless- 


INDEX. 


ness  of  their  effort,  415  ;  position  of,  in  1653, 
418 ;  retires  to  Raby  Castle,  421 ;  his  wife, 
children,  and  brothers,  422 ;  ceases  to  be 
"  young  "  through  death  of  his  father,  1654, 
423 ;  his  letter  to  unruly  spirits  at  Provi- 
dence, 425-6 ;  lays  down  public  life  gladly, 
426;  his  return  besought  by  Cromwell,  427  ; 
his  unpopularity  with  Cromwellians,  428 ; 
his  religious  vagaries,  the  Retired  Man's 
Meditations,  429-30;  his  belief  in  the  im- 
mediate second  coming  of  Christ,  and  the 
Fifth  Monarchy,  430-1  ;  his  following  at 
Raby,  popular  stories  about  his  fanaticism, 
432-3  ;  his  exposition  of  the  idea  of  a  Written 
Constitution,  433;  his  idea  in  the  Healing 
Question,  441-4;  Vane  and  Cromwell  alien- 
ated, 445-6 ;  his  appearance,  1656 ;  portrait 
by  Houbraken,  445-7;  the  Healing  Ques- 
tion condemned  by  Cromwellians,  448 :  im- 
prisoned in  Carisbrook  Castle,  449 ;  his  let- 
ter thence  to  Cromwell,  450-1 ;  writes  to 
Harrington,  453  ;  returns  to  public  life,  1659, 
459 ;  leader  in  Richard's  Parliament,  460 ; 
speech  against  Richard's  Protectorate,  461- 
3;  on  limiting  his  power,  463;  on  military 
affairs  and  the  Upper  House,  464 ;  on  the 
Scoich  and  Irish  members,  465;  denuncia- 
tion of  Richard,  466-7;  helps  restore  the 
Rump,  scene  with  Prynne,  470;  takes  com- 
mand of  a  regiment,  leading  member  of  the 
Council,  471 ;  sides  with  the  Army  against 
the  Rump,  474 ;  one  of  the  Committee  of 
Safety,  his  plan  for  a  new  Constitution,  475 ; 
pleads  with  Lawson  not  to  desert  the  Com- 
mittee of  Safety,  the  final  word  of  his  public 
life,  476 ;  ordered  by  the  Rump  to  Raby 
Castle,  477  ;  imprisoned  at  the  Restoration, 
480  ;  writes  The  People's  Case  Stated,  variety 
of  estimates  of  his  character,  481 ;  estimates 
of  Maidstone,  Baxter,  482-3  ;  Anthony  a 
Wood,  Biographia  Britannia,  484 ;  Burnet, 
Clarendon,  485;  portrayal  of,  in  Don  Juan 
Lamberto,  486 ;  in  street  ballads,  487-9 ; 
estimates  of  Henry  Stubbe,  Hume,  Forster, 
Upham,  491 ;  Wendell  Phillips,  Sir  James 
Mackintosh,  492 ;  Carlyle,  492-3  ;  summary 
view  of  Vane  as  a  practical  statesman  and 
a  political  theorizer,  495 ;  his  position  rela- 
tive to  contempo/ary  statesmen,  496;  com- 
pared with  Cromwell,  496-8 ;  his  limitations, 
498-9;  parallels  to  his  eccentricity,  500-1; 
his  tolerance  to  free-thinkers,  502;  extract 
from  his  Meditations  concerning  Life  and 
People's  Case  Stated,  502-6 ;  his  letter  to 
his  wife  from  prison,  507-8 ;  arraigned  as  a 
traitor,  508  ;  his  impression  of  the  signifi- 
cance of  his  trial,  509  ;  the  indictment,  510  ; 
he  pleads  not  guilty,  511 ;  the  counts  of  the 


indictment,  512  ;  his  defence,  513  etc. :  Salus 
populi  suprema  lejc,  514;  his  opposition  to 
Cromwell,  515  ;  in  what  sense  he  was  a  Re- 
publican, 515-17;  his  tone  as  regards  the 
Stuarts,  516-23 ;  he  insists  on  the  subordinacy 
of  the  King,  523;  Charles  II  finds  him  too 
dangerous  to  live,  525  ;  his  answer  to  the 
charge  of  keeping  out  the  King,  526 ;  the 
sentence,  527;  extract  from  his  Reasons  fjr 
an  A  rrest  of  Judgment,  528-9  ;  comparison 
of,  with  Strafford,  530  ;  his  address  to  his 
children  the  day  before  his  execution,  531- 
2  ;  his  prayer  on  his  last  morning,  532-3 ;  his 
progress  to  the  scaffold,  534-7 ;  his  address 
to  the  people,  538-43;  the  execution,  tribute 
of  a  disciple,  545  ;  his  significance  as  a  con- 
necting link  between  the  severed  branches 
of  the  English-speaking  race,  566-8. 

Vane,  Henry,  son  of  former,  dies  in  youth, 
betrothed  to  daughter  of  Lambert,  460,  486.4 

Vane,  Henry.  Duke  of  Cleveland,  favors  re- 
form in  1832,  2. 

Vane,  Lady,  wife  of  young  Sir  Henry,  422 ; 
letter  to,  from  Vane  in  prison,  507-8. 

Vanity  of  Vanities,  ballad  on  Vane,  487. 

Van  Tromp,  Admiral  of  the  Dutch,  his  battle 
with  Blake  off  Dover,  371 ;  the  broom  at  his 
mast-head,  386 ;  engages  Blake,  Feb.  18, 
1653,  389;  as  a  mother-bird  to  the  convoy, 
391  ;  the  Flying  Dutchman,  392 ;  blows  up 
his  ship,  his  death,  394. 

Vaudois  peasants,  avenged  by  Blake,  394. 

Verney,  Sir  E.,  killed  at  Edgehill,  154. 

Vienna,  Vane's  visit  to,  5. 

Violett's  plot,  discovered  by  Vane,  1643,  195. 

Voluntaryism,  Vane's  adhesion  to,  commemo- 
rated in  Milton's  sonnet,  376-8. 

WALES,  rises  for  the  King,  1648,  286. 
Waller,  Edmund,  his  plot  against  Parliament, 

158. 
Waller,  Sir  William,  successes  and  defeats  of, 

159 ;  routs  Hopton,  1644,  204 ;  defeated  by 

the  King,  205. 
Wallingford   House  party,  457,  458;   depose 

Richard  in  concert  with  the   Republicans, 

469. 
Ward,  Rev.  Nathaniel,  his  Simple  Cobbler  of 

Aggawam,  23  ;  his  intolerance,  165. 
Warwick,  Sir  Philip,  his  account  of  Cromwell, 

114;  on  Vane,  181. 
Weld,  Rev.  Thomas,  on   the  Antinomians  in 

New  England,  50. 

Wentworth,  Sir  Thomas.     See  Strafford. 
Westminster,    ancient    palace    of,    described, 

97- 

Westminster  Assembly  of  Divines,  173. 
Westminster  Hall,  described,  117. 


INDEX. 


1 


Wetherell,  Sir  Charles,  Tory  leader,  1832,  on 
the  Reform  bill  as  a  revival  of  17th-century 
Republicanism,  89. 

Whalley,  Ironside  Colonel  at  Naseby,  245; 
guards  the  King  at  Hampton  Court,  269;  at 
Dunbar,  349 ;  one  of  Cromwell's  Major-Gen- 
erals, 449. 

Wheelwright,  a  Hutchinsonian,  48 ;  a  pioneer 
of  New  Hampshire,  71. 

Whistler,  Surgeon  Dan,  writes  of  Blake 
wounded,  373-4. 

White  Coats,  in  the  Royalitt  centre  at  Mars- 
ton  Moor,  217,  220,  223,  225. 

Whitlocke,  Bulstrode,  his  Memorials  on  Vane 
at  Straff ord's  trial,  127  ;  a  Parliament  leader, 
191 ;  his  services,  1649,  325  ;  member  of  the 
Council  of  State,  328 ;  on  the  death  of  Lord 
Capel,  330 ;  with  Vane  at  the  dissolution  of 
the  Rump,  402. 

Williams,  Roger,  his  early  career,  25 ;  arrives 
in  Boston,  at  Salem,  26  ;  at  Plymouth,  the 
Magistrates  try  to  send  him  home,  27  ;  founds 
Providence,  hates  Quakers,  28 ;  his  magna- 
nimity, 29 ;  holds  the  Narragansetts  firm  to 
the  English,  45;  early  adopts  Toleration, 
66;  his  tribute  *o  Vane,  67 ;  visits  London, 
1643,  170;  publishes  the  Bloudy  Tenent,  its 
character,  171 ;  illustrates  the  necessary  limi- 
tations of  freedom  by  the  parable  of  a  ship's 
company,  258-9;  defends  Voluntaryism  in 
England,  1652,  369;  a  friend  of  Lady  Vane, 
422 ;  correspondence  between  Vane  and  his 
Colony,  1654,  424-6 ;  testifies  to  Vane's  be- 
ing nissed,  427. 

Wilson,  Rev.  John,  his  high  birth  and  connec- 
tions, 21 ;  his  character  and  accomplish- 


ments, 23 ;  an  anti-Hutchinsonian,  1636,  49 ; 
his  sad  speech  on  the  condition  of  the 
churches,  54 ;  whitewashes  the  situation,  57 ; 
his  speech  from  the  tree  on  Newton  Com- 
mon, 58 ;  his  great  influence  in  the  Hutchin- 
sonian Controversy,  71. 

Winthrop,  John,  his  position  and  character  in 
Massachusetts  Bay,  20 ;  blamed  for  too  great 
lenity,  33;  disapproves  Vane's  policy  in  the 
affair  of  the  ships,  38  ;  describes  in  his  Jour- 
nal Gallop's  sea-fight,  41-2;  Miantonimo's 
visit  to  Boston,  46;  Mrs.  Hutchinson,  48; 
his  fair-mindedness,  describes  Vane's  posi- 
tion and  his  own,  51 ;  Vane's  trouble  of 
mind,  52 ;  the  chiding  of  Hugh  Peters,  54 ; 
elected  Governor  over  Vane,  58 ;  in  contro- 
versy with  Vane,  61  etc. ;  defines  a  com- 
monweal, 62;  describes  Underbill,  72-3; 
difference  of  view  as  to  his  influence,  75 ;  his 
magnanimity  to  Vane,  79. 

Winthrop,  John,  Jr.,  settles  Agawam,  1635, 
16;  interested  with  Vane  in  settling  Con- 
necticut, 32,  40. 

Worcester,  battle  of,  360. 

Worsley,  Lieut.  Col.,  commands  the  mus- 
keteers at  the  dissolution  of  the  Rump,  409 ; 
his  skeleton  unearthed,  1868,  411,  note. 

Wray,  Frances,  becomes  the  wife  of  Vane,  88. 
See  Lady  Vane. 

Wroth,  Sir  Thomas,  moves  to  "  lay  the  King 
by,"  1648,  283. 

Wyatt's  rebellion,  1554,  ancestor  of  Vane  con- 
cerned in,  2. 

YORK,  Vane  describes  the  siege  of,  1644,  208  5 
present  appearance  of  the  city,  212-13. 


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